a Superconductorswhich is in Room temperature If it succeeds, it will be a major achievement for science. In 2023, several researchers caused a stir by presenting materials containing this property. But suspicions spread quickly. In particular, the study of March 2023 was suspected forged He is.
➤ Read more: How will the breakthrough of the LK-99 superconductor change the world?
a 124 page reportwhich was created by several independent researchers, now proves that Physicist Ranga Dias Manal University of Rochester Manipulating data and “lying repeatedly.” The report was initiated by the University of Rochester itself.
Studies on superconductors have been withdrawn
One of his now withdrawn studies was Originally published in Nature magazine. He had claimed that Lutetium hydride saturated with nitrogen At only 21°C and a pressure of 10 kbar It will become superconducting. also CSHa mix of carbon, Sulfur And hydrogen, as it was Candidate in a withdrawn study described.
Ranga Dias in a University of Rochester press photo
© J. Adam Finster/University. From Rochester
As Nature reportsamong other things, data on “Magnetic susceptibility“With CSH it may be fake. With a superconductor, the magnetic field of the material is pushed outward. So there is no magnetic flux through the material.”
Magnetic susceptibility refers to how strongly a material is magnetized from the outside. For a superconductor, this value is always less than 0.
Fake raw data and opaque procedures
Dias has been researching superconductors since 2020, but his data is incomplete. That's how they were Cleaned data It has been published, but there is no raw data that transparently explains how the team arrived at the final result. Only later were some too Manipulating it,published raw data.
After renewed criticism, Dias explained that he had one to clean A new and advanced way to process data user. It is said that he was trying to divert attention from the raw data to the method and mislead the scientific community.
For a superconductor to work, it previously had to be cooled with nitrogen
© Wikimedia, CC BY SA 3.0, Henry Mühlpfordt / Wikimedia Commons/Henry Mühlpfordt CC BY SA 3.0
During interviews with team members, it was revealed that Dias lied about the origin of the raw data. He told the researchers in Rochester that they came from experiments in University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV). He explained to the people at UNLV that they were from Rochester.
Data is later found on Dia's hard drive showing that he… Selectively deleted measurements He was pointing out that the materials are not conductive to electricity. In addition, Dias should provide data on the electrical resistivity of the material Manganese disulphide Simply copied from his doctoral thesis, which dealt with entirely different material.
➤ Read more: Room temperature superconductors: new hope through Chinese experiments
Investigations bear “features of conspiracy theories”
There is no official name for Dias yet. Despite repeated calls to do so, he has not yet published preliminary data on his studies that would allow him to address any criticism. Speaking to Nature, his lawyer pointed to a note in the statement of claim in which Dias stated, “The… Basic integrity and scientific validity” of the work confirmed. The investigators' approaches “show characteristics of conspiracy theories.”
Among other things, Dias has received several funding based on his research, such as a prestigious CAREER grant worth $790,000 (730,000 euros). Researchers recommend using slides To pull out the chair And he is from Public and private research To exclude.
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