# Help me build a list of scientists/drs that have been proven to be liars
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-a-list-of-scientists-drs-that-have-been-proven-to-be-liars/664798
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [July 29, 2013, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-a-list-of-scientists-drs-that-have-been-proven-to-be-liars/664798 "2013-07-29T09:16:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2013, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-a-list-of-scientists-drs-that-have-been-proven-to-be-liars/664798/21 "2013-07-29T19:18:02Z")
Proven?
Okay, I’m clear then.
For now.
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### Author:  [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2013, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-a-list-of-scientists-drs-that-have-been-proven-to-be-liars/664798/22 "2013-07-29T19:20:28Z")
> [@yellowjacketcoder](#):
>
> The [Bogdanov Brothers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogdanov_Affair) are well known as fraudsters in the physics community.
I misread that as ‘psychics community’, and was both confused and impressed.
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2013, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-a-list-of-scientists-drs-that-have-been-proven-to-be-liars/664798/23 "2013-07-29T19:48:36Z")
I’m a scientist.
My name isn’t actually Smeghead.
_hangs head in shame_
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2013, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-a-list-of-scientists-drs-that-have-been-proven-to-be-liars/664798/24 "2013-07-29T20:33:46Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> How about [William Summerlin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Summerlin), the guy who claimed to have transplanted skin grafts between genetically unrelated mice without immune rejection?
He made the Sharpie company a fortune, though. 😃
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2013, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-a-list-of-scientists-drs-that-have-been-proven-to-be-liars/664798/25 "2013-07-29T22:32:43Z")
[Dr. Cyril Burt.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyril_Burt#.22The_Burt_Affair.22) He published some very important studies on identical twins, which were often cited and used in psychological research. It was discovered that nearly all of his later data was probably fraudulent.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2013, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-a-list-of-scientists-drs-that-have-been-proven-to-be-liars/664798/26 "2013-07-29T22:59:25Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#):
>
> The ‘cold fusion’ guys Fleischmann and Pons.
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#):
>
> DId they lie or were unethical, or were they just wrong?
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> I was wondering whether to mention them. Hasty in announcing their work, and maybe not through the proper channels, but yeah, I’m not exactly sure they were out-and-out lying.
I once read a good account of the incident in a book about scientific frauds. The author felt that Fleischmann and Pons believed their results were true when they first reported them. But they got rushed into going public before they were able to substantiate them.
When the post-report publicity began to raise questions, they could have accepted the results and suffered nothing worse than embarrassment for having been too hasty. But the pressure got to them and they knowingly participated in the attempted deceptions. So while they didn’t start out as frauds, they ended up that way.
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2013, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-a-list-of-scientists-drs-that-have-been-proven-to-be-liars/664798/27 "2013-07-29T23:18:55Z")
Little Joey Mengele did some research using some pretty unethical tactics. There is also the whole “Unit 731” band of merrymakers.
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### Author:  [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2013, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-a-list-of-scientists-drs-that-have-been-proven-to-be-liars/664798/28 "2013-07-30T00:22:20Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> It could just be that Teller was delusional, but he deliberately falsified data on fallout readings on nuclear tests in order to justify his agenda of nuclear geo-engineering.
One of the big things driving the various “peaceful nuclear explosion” programs was that at the time it was looking somewhat likely that a comprehensive test ban treaty was on the horizon. People like Teller were hardcore believers in nuclear deterrence, and in order to have a credible deterrent it was thought you had to be able to demonstrate your stockpile worked. The test ban treaty put that in jeopardy, so the PNE’s were designed to be a plausible reason to continue work on nuclear explosions. I think it’s debatable whether the boosters of those programs really believed they’d ever be dredging harbors with nukes and such or if it was just a way to potentially skirt arms control rules.
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### Author:  [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2013, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-a-list-of-scientists-drs-that-have-been-proven-to-be-liars/664798/29 "2013-07-30T00:41:11Z")
Anyone who can list “FOX News Panelist” on their resume.
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2013, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-a-list-of-scientists-drs-that-have-been-proven-to-be-liars/664798/30 "2013-07-30T01:55:25Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> I once read a good account of the incident in a book about scientific frauds. The author felt that Fleischmann and Pons believed their results were true when they first reported them. But they got rushed into going public before they were able to substantiate them.
“Bad Science” by Gary Taubes was a good book on the subject by the way.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2013, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-a-list-of-scientists-drs-that-have-been-proven-to-be-liars/664798/31 "2013-07-30T14:38:19Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#):
>
> I think it’s debatable whether the boosters of those programs really believed they’d ever be dredging harbors with nukes and such or if it was just a way to potentially skirt arms control rules.
The harbor idea was moving forward at full speed. Teller went to Alaska and heavily promoted the idea, promising jobs and new commerce. The territorial government went along with the notion and everyone was all smiles until a small, vocal minority of university activists and Alaska Natives launched what was to become the first environmental impact study ever conducted. The results, which included radiation fallout levels (drifted over from Soviet nuke tests) in lichen, the prime source of food for caribou (a food staple of Alaska Natives), killed the project.
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### Author:  [@smee\_goan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smee_goan)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-a-list-of-scientists-drs-that-have-been-proven-to-be-liars/664798/32 "2013-07-30T15:08:55Z")
Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson’s enabler. did you see the 150 pictures of the house taken by the coroner? Looked like a homeless camp, but Jacko cleaned his plate…
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### Author:  [@Haunted\_Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haunted_Pasta)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2013, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-a-list-of-scientists-drs-that-have-been-proven-to-be-liars/664798/33 "2013-07-30T16:33:24Z")
[Anil Potti,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anil_Potti) cancer researcher, data manipulator, author of a bunch of papers that have been retracted. One of the statisticians who uncovered his fraud was a college acquaintance of mine and is featured on a [60 Minutes segment](http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7398476n) about the story.
One of the most poignant aspects of the story: imagine that you or someone you love is dying of cancer. Standard treatment is failing. Time is running out- there’s only time to try one last-ditch, experimental treatment. Over 100 such patients spent what may have been their last option on trying Potti’s treatment over other possible choices. And it was fake.
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2013, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-a-list-of-scientists-drs-that-have-been-proven-to-be-liars/664798/34 "2013-07-30T18:07:02Z")
> [@smee\_goan](#):
>
> Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson’s enabler. did you see the 150 pictures of the house taken by the coroner? Looked like a homeless camp, but Jacko cleaned his plate…
This sounds fun. You got a link?
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-a-list-of-scientists-drs-that-have-been-proven-to-be-liars/664798/35 "2013-07-30T18:17:20Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> There were a lot of them. Read [The Firecracker Boys](http://www.amazon.com/The-Firecracker-Boys-Dan-ONeill/dp/0312134169/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375125015&sr=8-1&keywords=firecracker+boys) for a full accounting. It could just be that Teller was delusional, but he deliberately falsified data on fallout readings on nuclear tests in order to justify his agenda of nuclear geo-engineering. This agenda included detonating devices to melt the polar caps in order to irrigate deserts, excavating a harbor in Alaska near populated areas, leveling mountains in order to provide city space and to create gaps through rugged ranges, etc. He maintained that fallout readings were way below danger levels to humans, when the data clearly showed otherwise. The guy was an egomaniac who was willing to endanger the population to further his goals.
Wow!
Now **that’s** a mad scientist for ya!
Fools! I’ll destroy them all! BWAH-HA-HA-HAAAA! 😃
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### Author:  [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2013, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-a-list-of-scientists-drs-that-have-been-proven-to-be-liars/664798/36 "2013-08-02T17:26:01Z")
There’s [Hwang Woo-suk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hwang_Woo-suk), the dude who claimed to have succeeded in creating human embryonic stem cells by cloning. I seem to recall that he attributed his success to his dexterity learned from using metal chopsticks all his life.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-a-list-of-scientists-drs-that-have-been-proven-to-be-liars/664798/37 "2013-08-02T19:51:20Z")
[Alfred Steinschneider](http://books.google.com/books?id=dPHScmCibD8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22death+of+innocents%22+talan&hl=en&sa=X&ei=VQz8UZq1C4_C4AOI3IDYDA&ved=0CDEQuwUwAA#v=onepage&q=%22death%20of%20innocents%22%20talan&f=false)?
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### Author:  [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2013, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-a-list-of-scientists-drs-that-have-been-proven-to-be-liars/664798/38 "2013-08-03T09:31:26Z")
Sorry I’m a bit limited by lack of technology and having trouble finding it - wasn’t there someone who claimed to have cloned a human - somewhere like N Korea?
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2013, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-a-list-of-scientists-drs-that-have-been-proven-to-be-liars/664798/39 "2013-08-03T16:46:17Z")
The people who allowed Vioxx to be placed on the market. I sure was glad that was pulled from the worldwide market on my day off.
However, my brother worked with a woman who had a rare form of arthritis, and she said that was the only medicine that really worked for her, and she did not experience any side effects from it.
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2013, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-a-list-of-scientists-drs-that-have-been-proven-to-be-liars/664798/40 "2013-08-03T16:48:28Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#):
>
> [Sybll Exposed](http://www.amazon.com/Sybil-Exposed-Extraordinary-Multiple-Personality/dp/1439168288/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top) does a real hatchet job on Dr. Cornelia Wilbur
And Flora Schreiber, who wrote the book “Sybil”. That was an enormous travesty of medical malpractice and a huge breach of journalistic ethics.
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