[PDF] Scientists And Swindlers eBook

Author : Paul Lucier
Publisher : JHU Press
Page : 444 pages
File Size : 39,67 MB
Release : 2008-12-22
Category : Science
ISBN : 1421402858

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An “insightful” account of the early fossil fuel industry, the rise of the professional consultant, and the nexus between science and money (Technology and Culture). In this impressively researched, highly original work, Paul Lucier explains how science became an integral part of American technology and industry in the nineteenth century. Scientists and Swindlers introduces us to a new service of professionals: the consulting scientists. Lucier follows these entrepreneurial men of science on their wide-ranging commercial engagements from the shores of Nova Scotia to the coast of California and shows how their innovative work fueled the rapid growth of the American coal and oil industries and the rise of American geology and chemistry. Along the way, he explores the decisive battles over expertise and authority, the high-stakes court cases over patenting research, the intriguing and often humorous exploits of swindlers, and the profound ethical challenges of doing science for money. Starting with the small surveying businesses of the 1830s and reaching to the origins of applied science in the 1880s, Lucier recounts the complex and curious relations that evolved as geologists, chemists, capitalists, and politicians worked to establish scientific research as a legitimate, regularly compensated, and respected enterprise. This sweeping narrative enriches our understanding of how the rocks beneath our feet became invaluable resources for science, technology, and industry.

Author : Darryl Cunningham
Publisher : Myriad Editions (US&CA)
Page : 209 pages
File Size : 33,53 MB
Release : 2013-06-01
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN : 1908434627

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Previously published as How to Fake a Moon Landing, and nominated for the Great Graphic Novels for Teens List from Young Adult Library Services Association, this new edition has been updated to include a clinical exposé of frackingA graphic milestone of investigative reporting, Cunningham's essays explode the lies, hoaxes, and scams of popular science, debunking media myths and decoding some of today's most fiercely-debated issues: climate change, electroconvulsive therapy, the moon landing, the MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) vaccine, homeopathy, chiropractic, evolution, science denialism, and, new for this edition, fracking. Thoroughly researched and sourced, Cunningham's clear narrative, graphic lines, and photographic illustration explain complicated and controversial issues with deceptive ease.

Author : Gerhard Falk
Publisher :
Page : 212 pages
File Size : 10,9 MB
Release : 2007
Category : Law
ISBN : 9780761838586

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While fraud is generally associated with the business world, this book demonstrates that there is also a good deal of fraud and deception among scientists, writers and philanthropists. Scientists will sometimes announce fraudulent findings in order to raise money for additional research projects. Since many scientists live by this "soft" money and have no other income, the temptation to claim results that never occurred is great. Likewise, authors and journalists may commit fraud by claiming that they saw some thing that they did not see or that an event occurred which never happened. There are also writers who steal the work of others and publish such material under their own name. There are executives of charitable organizations who steal the money donated to a charitable cause and there are clergy who steal from the members of their own parish, or sell objects that do not belong to them. Some members of the clergy use their trusted office to gain sexual favors from congregants while others entertain their friends at the expense of their congregations. This work is well documented and demonstrates that the notion of the aloof scientists or holy clergy may be no more than a myth, and that even in these professions all things are not what they seem. Book jacket.

Author : Eugenie Samuel Reich
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
Page : 273 pages
File Size : 26,1 MB
Release : 2009-05-12
Category : Science
ISBN : 0230621341

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This is the story of wunderkind physicist Jan Hendrik Schön who faked the discovery of a new superconductor made from plastic. A star researcher at the world-renowned Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, he claimed to have stumbled across a powerful method for making carbon-based crystals into transistors, the switches found on computer chips. Had his experiments worked, they would have paved the way for huge advances in technology--computer chips that we could stick on a dress or eyewear, or even use to make electronic screens as thin and easy-to-fold as sheets of paper. But as other researchers tried to recreate Schön's experiments, the scientific community learned that it had been duped. Why did so many top experts, including Nobel prize-winners, support Schön? What led the major scientific journals to publish his work, and promote it with press releases? And what drove Schön, by all accounts a mild-mannered, modest and obliging young man, to tell such outrageous lies?

Author : Andreas Schroeder
Publisher : Annick Press
Page : 181 pages
File Size : 41,10 MB
Release : 2011-08-01
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN : 1554515874

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As long as there have been people willing to believe the unbelievable, people have been duped. In the best storytelling tradition, readers can follow the tales of: • How the Nazis planned to destroy the British economy during World War II by flooding the world with millions of fake British banknotes • How an infamous radio broadcast had American citizens convinced that Martians were invading the country • How one of the 20th century’s most elaborate scams — conducting tours to the lost Tasaday tribe in the Philippines — fooled the world’s media and top scientists for nearly a decade. The author’s fascination with the boldness and inventiveness of the swindlers, as well as their motives, makes for a compelling read. The stories instill a sense of disbelief, amusement and even grudging admiration for these ingenious scam artists who often (but not always) meet a bad end. Accompanied by graphic-style artwork, each tale offers a great escape for readers drawn to true stories presented in a lively fashion.

Author : Dean Jobb
Publisher : Algonquin Books
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 13,20 MB
Release : 2015-05-19
Category : History
ISBN : 1616204966

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“A rollicking tale that is one part The Sting, one part The Great Gatsby, and one part The Devil in the White City.” —Karen Abbott, author of Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy In a time of unregulated madness, nowhere was it madder than in Chicago at the dawn of the Roaring Twenties. It was the perfect place for a slick, smooth-talking, charismatic lawyer named Leo Koretz to entice hundreds of people to invest as much as $30 million--upwards of $400 million today--in phantom timberland and nonexistent oil wells in Panama. It was an ingenious deceit, one that out-Ponzied Charles Ponzi himself. In this rip-roaring tale of greed, financial corruption, dirty politics, over-the-top and under-the-radar deceit, illicit sex, and a brilliant and wildly charming con man on the town and then on the lam, Empire of Deception proves that the American dream of easy wealth is truly a timeless commodity. “Captivating . . . Dean Jobb tells the story of Leo Koretz, a legendary con artist of Madoffian audacity, with terrific energy and narrative brio.” —Gary Krist, author of Empire of Sin “A brilliantly researched tale of greed, ambition, and our desperate need to believe in magic, it’s history that captures America as it really was--and always will be. A great read.” —Douglas Perry, author of Eliot Ness “Reads like a Gatsby-Ponzi mashup . . . Kudos to Jobb for unearthing this overlooked story and bringing to life a charming, witty, naughty, iconic American crook.” —Neal Thompson, author of A Curious Man “The granddaddy of all con men, Leo Koretz gives Jobb the opportunity to exhibit his impressive research and storytelling skills . . . A highly readable, entertaining story.” —Kirkus Reviews

Author : Robert J. Schadewald
Publisher : Xlibris Corporation
Page : 274 pages
File Size : 34,30 MB
Release : 2008-02-15
Category : Science
ISBN : 1462810039

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History is written by the winners; including the histories of science and scholarship. Unorthodoxies that flourish at the grassroots are often beneath the contempt of historians. Zetetic astronomy (flat-Earth science) was a household term in Victorian England, but not a single reference to it is found in conventional histories. We ignore such histories at our peril; the modern intelligent design movement is almost a carbon copy of the 19th century flat-Earth movement in its argumentative techniques. When orthodox science finds itself stumped, or a certain segment finds it unpalatable, the unorthodox may rush in to fill the void. The past two decades have brought a surge of interest in the history and philosophy of science. But how do we discern between pseudo and actual science? To fully understand what science is, we must understand what science is not. Written with penetrating insight into the minds of alternative thinkers, this book throws light on the differences between pseudo and actual science. The droll humor that permeates Worlds of Their Own makes it as enjoyable a read as it is enlightening. Despite its focus on unorthodox ideas, Worlds of Their Own is about human nature. Whether they drew their ideas from the Bible or nature, all the pseudoscientists discussed in this book were driven to communicate their truth to the misinformed world. None was afflicted with self-doubt. All defended their truth with similar standards of evidence, modes of reasoning, and methods of scholarship. Their counterparts are legion the blue-collar philosopher who refutes Einstein from his barstool, the preacher who refutes (but cannot define) evolution from his pulpit, the narcissist who promotes quackery courtesy of modern talk shows and infomercials. Each topic discussed in Worlds of Their Own covers a once-popular concept that persists to this day. Numerous works examine or debunk pseudoscientific ideas. Worlds of Their Own is unique in letting unorthodox thinkers speak for themselves. Readers will want to buy the book to learn how such people argued their cases against conventional views. Worlds of Their Own is a timeless book offering humor, substance, and analysis for a mainstream audience. Moreover, it is a unique source book on unorthodox ideas that nearly everyone has heard about but few fully understand. And the source material is rare. For example, the National Union Catalog lists only four U.S. libraries the Library of Congress, New York Public, Yale, and Duke that hold Carpenters One Hundred Proofs That the Earth Is Not a Globe (1885). Bobs own extensive collection of flat-Earth literature as well as his collection of literature advocating various other unorthodoxies was donated to the University of Wisconsin after his death. It is housed there as the Robert Schadewald Collection on Pseudo-Science. This collection consists of 885 books and pamphlets (many from the 19th century) as well as 70 boxes of personal files and collected news clippings. Praise for Bob Schadewald: Perhaps the most important thing that Bob taught me has to do with the striking insights one can gain by first studying the history of one particular kind of crackpot science for example, the flat-Earth movement in past centuries and then realizing how reliable that knowledge can be for gaining insight into a seemingly unrelated pseudoscience of more contemporary times for example, the creation science movement that flourished in Iowa and across the country in recent decades, and is now returning as intelligent design today. Nobody, but nobody could make the case for this more convincingly than Bob Schadewald, and Lois has included some of Bobs best material doing so between the covers of Worlds of Their Own. John W. Patterson.emeritus Materials Science & Engineering, Iowa State University Bob Schadewald was an insightful thinker w

Author : Martin Gardner
Publisher :
Page : 440 pages
File Size : 12,32 MB
Release : 1981
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN :

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An interesting take on exploring Infectious Diseases through maps, figures, images, statistics and extensive list of facts.