105. Eugenie Reich (Part 1): Plastic Fantastic, scientific fraud, and institutional norms

Eugenie Reich is an attorney who represents scientific whistleblowers, and a former investigative science journalist. We talk about her previous work as a science journalist, in particular her book Plastic Fantastic about one of the biggest fraud cases in physics, the case of Jan-Hendrik Schön. We'd planned to also discuss Eugenie's current work as an attorney, but spent all our time on the Schön case. Eugenie kindly agreed to do another interview, in which we cover the legal aspects of fraud, which will be the next episode (#106).BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: One of the biggest fraud cases in physics/all of science0:05:47: How and why Eugenie started writing about the Schön case0:09:26: Why did Schön commit fraud?0:19:30: Schön's PhD: he never saved any original data0:30:05: Bell Labs vs. Schön's PhD lab: long-term revolutions vs. short-term applications0:36:42: Schön's first work at Bell Labs was 'unpublishable'0:41:42: How to get away with fraud: pretend you collected data in another lab0:47:45: Bertram Batlogg and the role of the supervisors of fraudsters0:56:20: How the bursting of the Dot-Com Bubble and 9/11 may (indirectly) have exacerbated Schön's fraud1:01:09: How to use your colleagues' ideas to commit better fraud1:05:05: How Schön's fraud unraveled1:13:45: What is Schön doing now?1:18:11: A book or paper more people should read1:20:20: Something Eugenie wishes she'd learnt sooner1:22:58: Advice for PhD students/postdocsPodcast linksWebsite: https://geni.us/bjks-podTwitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twtEugenie's linksWebsite: https://geni.us/reich-webTwitter: https://geni.us/reich-twtBen's linksWebsite: https://geni.us/bjks-webGoogle Scholar: https://geni.us/bjks-scholarTwitter: https://geni.us/bjks-twtReferences and linksEpisode with Simine Vazire: https://geni.us/bjks-vazireEpisode with Elisabeth Bik: https://geni.us/bjks-bikBell Labs (2002). The Schon report: https://media-bell-labs-com.s3.amazonaws.com/pages/20170403_1709/misconduct-revew-report-lucent.pdfReich (2009). Plastic fantastic: How the biggest fraud in physics shook the scientific world.Shapin & Schaffer (1985). Leviathan and the air-pump: Hobbes, Boyle, and the experimental life.