Posted on 02/19/2005 7:36:30 AM PST by Woodworker
Panel says professor of human origins made up data, plagiarized works
A flamboyant anthropology professor, whose work had been cited as evidence Neanderthal man once lived in Northern Europe, has resigned after a German university panel ruled he fabricated data and plagiarized the works of his colleagues. Reiner Protsch von Zieten, a Frankfurt university panel ruled, lied about the age of human skulls, dating them tens of thousands of years old, even though they were much younger, reports Deutsche Welle. "The commission finds that Prof. Protsch has forged and manipulated scientific facts over the past 30 years," the university said of the widely recognized expert in carbon data in a prepared statement.
Protsch's work first came under suspicion last year during a routine investigation of German prehistoric remains by two other anthropologists. "We had decided to subject many of these finds to modern techniques to check their authenticity so we sent them to Oxford [University] for testing," one of the researchers told The Sunday Telegraph. "It was a routine examination and in no way an attempt to discredit Prof. von Zieten." In their report, they called Protsch's 30 years of work a "dating disaster."
Among their findings was an age of only 3,300 years for the female "Bischof-Speyer" skeleton, found with unusually good teeth in Northern Germany, that Protsch dated to 21,300 years. Another dating error was identified for a skull found near Paderborn, Germany, that Protsch dated at 27,400 years old. It was believed to be the oldest human remain found in the region until the Oxford investigations indicated it belonged to an elderly man who died in 1750. The Herne anthropological museum, which owned the Paderborn skull, did its own tests following the unsettling results. "We had the skull cut open and it still smelt," said the museum's director. "We are naturally very disappointed."
Protsch, known for his love of Cuban cigars and Porsches, did not comment on the commission's findings, but in January he told the Frankfurter Neue Presse, "This was a court of inquisition. They don't have a single piece of hard evidence against me." The fallout from Protsch's false dating of northern European bone finds is only beginning.
Chris Stringer, a Stone Age specialist and head of human origins at London's Natural History Museum, said: "What was considered a major piece of evidence showing that the Neanderthals once lived in northern Europe has fallen by the wayside. We are having to rewrite prehistory." "Anthropology now has to revise its picture of modern man between 40,000 and 10,000 B.C.," added Thomas Terberger, an archaeologist at the University of Greifswald. Frankfurt University's president, Rudolf Steinberg, apologized for the university's failure to curb Protsch's misconduct for decades. "A lot of people looked the other way," he said.
The gold Mastercard in her purse tipped them off.
I thought this was going to be about another sex scandal.
Some people rob the cradle for love, apparently this guy robs the grave. At least he has standards re: dental hygiene...
Fortunately, this guy will be abble to find a teaching/research position at the same American university that employs Ward Churchill. In fact, it sounds like he would raise the level of integrity at that school.
Now this thing will be playing on my computer 24/7 for the rest of my life.
He who smelt it...dealt it.
Are you sure about that? He misidentified modern humans as Neandertals. That's classic creationist.
More here, including photo of the lovely Reiner:
http://www.deutsche-welle.net/dw/article/0,1564,1493421,00.html
NOTE! Links at the bottom of the page to articles about other German science scandals.
he should send his resume to cbs.
"Does anyone see a future where we could say "Professor Smith just pulled a 'von Zieten?"
Could happen..."pulled a Protsch" has a nice ring to it, too (easy to remember 'cause it rhymes w/ crotch).
?
This seems to be real. I've found a couple of other news stories about it. There's an earlier thread on this (by a couple of minutes), but it's already wucked up, and it has an odd title, so let's stick with this one.
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The creationoids will have a ball with this. They can add it to their tiny list of fraudulent finds, like Piltdown Man. But it should be noted that the frauds were exposed by scientists, not creationists (who deny the validity of the means used to test the fossils).
well, one of the scientific method's true strengths is its innate tendency towards self-correction through constant re-evaluation.
but, yes, the uber-creationists will have a field day over this.
oh, well: even a stopped clock...
At any moment now they'll be here, screaming that this "proves" the reality of Noah's Ark, the 6,000 year age of the universe, the collapse of everything we know about biology, etc.
There have been one or two other high profile cases in recent years. There was a young physicist who was on the road to superstardom and got caught pretty quickly (he was German I think, working at Bell Labs), and a veteran Danish ecologist who worked on swallows (I'm not sure how his case turned out in the end). I heard also that that guy Lomborg, the author of that book The Skeptical Environmentalist, was having one or two problems in this area in his native Denmark.
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