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The man who almost faked his way to a Nobel Prize

BobbyBroccoli · documentary · Watch on YouTube

Scientific method & science communicationDocumentaries & storytellingSemiconductors & chip manufacturing

What it is

BobbyBroccoli's first of three parts on Jan Hendrik Schon, the Bell Labs postdoc whose fabricated organic semiconductor results nearly won a Nobel Prize. It covers his rise and the context around Bell Labs.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN repeatedly recommends the series as a gripping account of scientific fraud, and cites it whenever research misconduct comes up.

  • 6 people recommended it
  • 5 different months
  • 3 strong recommendations
  • first 2022, last 2023

What HN commenters said

  1. “One of my favorite video essays is a long exploration of that case”

    Long video essay on the Schon case.

    asmor, 2023-07 · Strong recommendation · in “‘A very disturbing picture’: another retraction for controversial physicist”

  2. “amazing piece of documentary”

    Shows how science runs on trust and reputation, enabling fraudsters.

    treesciencebot, 2023-07 · Strong recommendation · in “Room Temperature Superconductor Drama and Hope”

  3. “I suggest watching this excellent series of videos by BobbyBroccoli on YouTube”

    Series on Schon's context and incentives to commit fraud.

    atrettel, 2023-11 · Strong recommendation · in “Stanford Data Science Handbook”

  4. “There is an engrossing set of videos about it”

    Documentary on the Schon organic semiconductor fraud.

    jhallenworld, 2022-01 · Recommendation · in “Royal Society cautions against censorship of scientific misinformation online”

  5. “There's a great 3-part documentary on youtube about it”

    Three-part documentary on Schon's falsified data and Bell Labs fallout.

    mustacheemperor, 2023-03 · Recommendation · in “Allegations of Scientific Misconduct Mount as Physicist Makes His Biggest Claim”

  6. “There's a great documentary on him”

    First part of a three-part documentary on Schon.

    lucubratory, 2023-08 · Recommendation · in “Origin of correlated isolated flat bands in LK99”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: jan hendrik schon, bell labs, research misconduct, nobel prize, physics

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