Scholar to Discuss Scientific Misconduct in 2018 Danforth Lecture

Professor Robert G. Bergman of the University of California, Berkeley, will discuss scientific misconduct when he gives the 2018 Danforth Chemistry Lecture at Grinnell College on Thursday, April 5.

His lecture is titled “Irreproducibility in the Scientific Literature or: How Often do Scientists Tell the Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth?” The event, which is free and open to the public, will start at 11 a.m. in Joe Rosenfield ’25 Center, Room 101, 1115 Eighth Ave., Grinnell.

Bergman will discuss scientific misconduct that has been reported in recent years from the point of view of an active worker in organic and inorganic chemistry. He also will assess the level of reproducibility of research in the synthetic chemical literature and focus on two scientific journals. The journals are among the only publications that provide a source of direct information about the reproducibility of submitted experiments.

In addition, Bergman will describe the phenomenon of unconscious investigator bias along with cases in which this behavior has been studied systematically. He also will explore the extent to which it contributes to irreproducible results.

Bergman was trained as an organic chemist and spent the first part of his independent career studying reaction mechanisms. He has made a number of key discoveries over the course of his career. As Gerald E.K. Branch distinguished professor emeritus of chemistry at UC Berkeley, he has continued to teach half-time, participate in collaborative research and stay involved in outreach projects.

Since 1979, the Danforth Lectureship has brought a distinguished chemist to Grinnell College each year for a seminar or convocation and interactions with students. The lectureship honors Joseph D. Danforth, who served on the Grinnell chemistry faculty from 1947-79. He taught and mentored scores of students who have become distinguished educators in their own right.