• Question: if you had an invention or a whole new matter that you found out yourself was stolen and passed off as another persons findings what would you do ?

    Asked by gibbyislegend to Andrew, Emma, Marianne on 23 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Marianne Baker

      Marianne Baker answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      Hey gibbyislegend

      That kind of happened to our group actually.

      Personally, because I’m not in charge of our lab (at all!!), there’s nothing I can do about it. I hope our boss will though, because the behaviour of the group that used our work was incredibly unprofessional and not what I expect of scientists at all.

      Sadly, money makes the world go around and if some people hear of a breakthrough they could get their hands on, they’ll go for it if it means their group/lab/institute will benefit.

      Science is subject to many of the bureaucratic things that other fields are, though we’d love if it wasn’t.

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      Hello gibbyislegend. This has sort of happened to me quite recently. All you can do is report them to the journal/funding body in question along with your proof and see what approach they take. This is a surprisingly difficult charge to bring but it is essential that you do something to make sure they don’t get away with it.

      If you have no proof you are essentially stuffed and all you can do is chalk it up to experience and get on with doing good science.

    • Photo: Andrew Maynard

      Andrew Maynard answered on 23 Jun 2010:

      Hi gibbyislegend,

      I’d get mad! In science – in fact in any form of work where thinking is important – who an idea belongs to is really important. It’s just plain bad to steal someone else’s ideas, or to take credit for them.

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