Letter - Don't Use Nazi Data

I have been reading The Scientist for more than a year and have been impressed with its format and standards as a newspaper for the science professional. I was therefore shocked to read the article by Alan C. Nixon.

I find Nixon "intellectually dishonest and muddled in his thinking." How can your paper allow an individual like Nixon to refer to Nazi murderers as scientists, and Nazi data as scientific data? Nixon sounds like an unsavory individual who would like to see such data duplicated.

I have read with interest your well-presented articles on good and bad science. I congratulate the scientific community on its efforts to control bad science.

Any individual who accepts torture and murder by Nazis as scientific data insults all scientific professionals and should not be given an opportunity to say so in your newspaper. I am joined by my colleagues in revulsion of such reportage. ...