Reiner Protsch (von Zieten), born 14 January 1939 in Berlin, is a German anthropologist who published allegedly erroneous carbon dating data of human fossils.
Reiner Protsch | |
|---|---|
| Born | 14 January 1939 |
| Nationality | German |
| Alma mater | UCLA |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Anthropology |
| Institutions | University of Frankfurt |
Protsch's fraud, which ended his 30-year-old academic career, was announced after it was discovered that he made up data and plagiarized the works of others.[1] His misdeeds also included an attempt to destroy the University of Frankfurt's archives and to sell the institution's chimpanzee skull collection.[2]
Concern regarding the anthropologist's works emerged during routine investigation conducted by Thomas Terberger and Martin Street.[3] The scientists sought to guarantee the authenticity of the fossil samples that Protsch had dated. Their findings, which were based on the fossil reanalysis completed at Oxford University's Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, revealed wrong dating for the Hahnhöfersand Man, Binshof-Speyer Woman, and the Paderborn-Sande Man.[4] The University of Frankfurt launched an investigation after the publication of Terberger and Street's report. It later found that throughout Protsch's career as a professor of anthropology at the university, he had plagiarized the works of colleagues and systematically misdated numerous stone age fossils.[5] Protsch's falsified works forced the revision of some 30 millennia's worth of human history[6] as well as the knowledge of human evolution.[2]
The German publication Der Spiegel also reported that Protsch lied about his background, having previously claimed he had ties to Prussian aristocracy.[4]
References
edit- ^ Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "Professor Resigns Over Misconduct Scandal | DW | 18.02.2005". DW.COM. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ a b Harding, Luke (2005-02-19). "History of modern man unravels as German scholar is exposed as fraud". the Guardian. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ Yilmaz, Irfan (2009-05-01). Evolution (in Turkish). Tughra Books. ISBN 978-1-59784-609-7.
- ^ a b "Insider: Look Before You Date - Archaeology Magazine Archive". archive.archaeology.org. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ Ben-Yehuda, Nachman; Oliver-Lumerman, Amalya (2017). Fraud and Misconduct in Research: Detection, Investigation, and Organizational Response. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-472-13055-9.
- ^ Freedman, David H. (2010). Wrong: Why experts* keep failing us--and how to know when not to trust them *Scientists, finance wizards, doctors, relationship gurus, celebrity CEOs, high-powered consultants, health officials and more. New York: Hatchette UK. ISBN 978-0-316-08791-9.