False Prophets: Fraud and Error in Science and Medicine

Did Newton fudge his figures? Who counted Mendel's peas? What lay behind Cyril Burt's disturbing statistics on race and intelligence? This work chronicles the famous frauds - from Piltdown man to the Hitler diaries - and unearths some lesser-known incidents buried in the scientific literature. Taking examples from all areas of science and medicine as well as anthropology, archaeology and psychology the author explores the deceivers' motives and discusses the conditions and pressures that make fraud possible. For this revised edition, the author has taken the opportunity to introduce new evidence on some of the case studies originally discussed. He has also added material on the controversy surrounding the attempts by different groups of scientists to establish the origins of AIDS. In a completely new chapter he asks whether fraud is endemic to science, whether errors in the publication of the results of scientific research are unavoidable and what happens to scientists who "blow the whistle" on their colleagues or corporations.