Science: Violating Nature

During his two-year stint as a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry near Munich, Robert Gullis, 27, impressed his boss as “probably the most diligent man I’ve ever known.” Indeed, the results of the young British scientist’s experiments on the effects of opiates on nervelike cells were notable enough to be published in several journals, including Nature. Now Nature has printed another communication by Gullis: a letter admitting that his results were fraudulent—”mere figments of my imagination.”

Gullis’ deception was discovered when his former colleagues, in repeating the tests, were unable to find the increased concentrations of a particular substance reported by the young scientist. By then, Gullis had returned to London. But Biochemist Bernd Hamprecht, his superior at the institute, insisted that he come back to West Germany and repeat his work under supervision. Gullis agreed, and after four futile tries conceded that he had faked his data.

In his confession, Gullis explained that he ignored the real results because he was carried away by enthusiasm for his hypothesis: “I was so convinced of my ideas that I simply put them down on paper.” But Hamprecht, who had no reason to distrust Gullis when he signed four of the original papers as a coauthor, is still puzzled. He feels Gullis—or any researcher—should know that “lies in science have short legs.” That is, they cannot outrun the truth.