RE: Berkeley lab found research fabricated

[Jack_Earley@RL.GOV]

Interesting--I was yelled out once (literally, but I won't say how long ago

it was) by a guy because I told him his procedure wouldn't work as written

and I wouldn't sign it until it was fixed. He said it wasn't my business

because it had nothing to do with ALARA. My being correct didn't seem to

have anything to do with it. My supervisor later said that although all

input is appreciated, I couldn't hold up a work package except for ALARA. So

subsequently my comments were on the order of, "Steps x.x.x through y.y.y

are unsafe and conflict with section z.z.z., but it's not an ALARA concern,"

and then signed it. Had the same effect, and everything I signed went into a

permanent project file.



I've even examined computer code before when my name was on a document, and

once found where the conclusions in the text were in direct conflict with

the code--turned out to be typographical errors, but would have looked bad

if missed since I was the last reviewer. I still spot-check structural

calculations, although the CEs can't understand why I bother. However, one

of our mechanical engineers recently questioned some structural calculations

that didn't seem to pass his "snicker" test, and he was correct. So the

bottom line for me is that other people have good general knowledge of ALARA

that can be useful (although everyone thinking s/he can also be a

radiological engineer does get old when they work from faulty information),

and sometimes I'm going to be asking questions that will impact what they

do. I would expect physicists to work the same way--although they may be

specialized, they should still have enough general knowledge of the other

specialties to know when the snicker test results are in question. (For ESL

readers, a snicker is a stifled laugh, which in this case results from

reading or hearing something obviously incredible.)



Jack Earley

Radiological Engineer





-----Original Message-----

From: Fritz A. Seiler [mailto:faseiler@NMIA.COM]

Sent: Monday, July 15, 2002 2:27 PM

To: Algutifan, Elizabeth K. (ELB)

Cc: RADSAFE; jalvarez; jalvarez@auxier.com; gjnewton

Subject: Re: Berkeley lab found research fabricated





"Algutifan, Elizabeth K. (ELB)" wrote:

> 

> Is it just me, or does this not add up? If I were putting my name on a

> professional publication and, subsequently, my professional reputation on

> the line, I would want to have a thorough understanding of the research

> conducted before I signed  on to it. Sheesh.





Hi Elizabeth and All,



	Unfortunately, it does add up, in some ways!  This paper

had 15 authors, and many elementary particle papers have 50 or 

more! Why? Because the complexity of modern physics experiments 

demands a wide range of such a high expertise that it is only 

found in a multitude of physicists!  

	I was once asked if I would participate in an experiment

that would measure neutrino life times (a finite lifetime means

that they have mass and decay into each other).  It was a really

great experimental setup using a 1 GWe Swiss nuclear power plant,

and the result is now one of the fundamental facts of particle

physics.  But the prospect of working with one or two Nobelists 

and about 50 co-authors dampened my enthusiasm and I declined. You

work hard in your own field to contribute the very best you can to

the project and have too much to do to keep an eye on anything else!

That was what kept me from relying too much on too many others in

neighboring fields of physics. That is a sad fact of elementary 

particle physics, and Nuclear Physics in Super-heavy nuclei is not

much different.

	I agree with you that if my name is on the paper, I want to

understand every detail of that work.  It may be old fashioned but

then so am I!



Fritz





************************



Fritz A. Seiler, Ph. D.

President

Sigma Five Consulting

P.O. Box 1709

Los Lunas, NM 87031, USA

Tel.   505-866-5193

Fax.  505-866-5197

e-mail: faseiler@nmia.com



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