Articles by John Edsall

I congratulate The Scientist on its coverage of the Stewart-Feder case in the May 17 issue, including the statement by the two embattled scientists themselves (page 11), and the thoughtful Commentary by Margot O'Toole (page 12). As might be gathered from my quoted remarks here in the same issue (Franklin Hoke, page 1), I am completely on the side of Stewart and Feder. It is true that they ventured outside biomedical research in using their "plagiarism machine" to examine a biography of Abrah

The accompanying article, in the same issue by Leonard Minsky, and the history of Jerome Jacobstein’s experiences adjoining it, remind us of cases in which universities have chosen to punish the whistlebiower rather than the person who in fact proved to be guilty of fraud. It is of course very difficult to set up a committee that is expert in the scientific field involved in a disptited case, and also free from conflict of interest. I would only insist that such a body cannot be set up w

In April 1954, I was one of thousands of biomedical scientists who gathered as usual for the annual meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). On this occasion, however, we received an unexpected shock. Rumors were circulating—with circumstantial detail that left little doubt as to their truth—that some highly regarded investigators, previously supported in their unclassified research by the U.S. Public Health Service, had found their grant appl

THE WORLD OF SCIENCE AND THE RULE OF LAW A Study of the Observance and Violations of the Human Rights of Scientists in the Participating States of the Helsinki Accords. John Ziman, Paul Sieghart and John Humphrey. Oxford University Press, New York, 1986. 351 pp. $37.   This is a book of major importance for those concerned with human rights and with the special problems that arise in defending the human rights of scientists. Of the three authors, Paul Sieghart is an eminent jurist in intern