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Vishwa Jit Gupta

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Vishwa Jit Gupta, alternatively spelt Viswa Jit Gupta,[1] or Vishwajit Gupta,[2] (1942—2022) was an Indian paleontologist and former professor of geology at Panjab University, Chandigarh. He is reputed for research in the geological settings and fossil records of the Himalayas, publishing five books and 458 articles on the subject between 1966 and 1989. However, many of his fossils were revealed to be fake or manipulated, and he became infamous for large-scale scientific fraud, the case that came to be known as the Himalayan fossil hoax.[3] Once recognised as "India's most celebrated fossil scientist",[4] he has been named as "the greatest" and "most notorious paleontological fraudster"[5] and "Houdini of the Himalayas."[6]

Vishwa Jit Gupta
Born(1942-11-04)4 November 1942
Chandigarh, India
Died(2022-12-31)31 December 2022
NationalityIndian
Alma materPanjab University
Known forHimalayan geology and fossil record
Himalayan fossil hoax
Scientific career
FieldsGeology
Paleontology
InstitutionsPanjab University
Thesis Palaeontology, Stratigraphy and Structure of the Palaeozoic Rocks of the Area South-East of Srinagar  (1966)
Doctoral advisorM.R. Sahni

Biography

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Gupta studied M.Sc. in the Department of Geology (at the time the Centre of Advanced Study in Palaeontology and Himalayan Geology[7]) at Panjab University, Chandigarh.[5] After enrolling in a doctoral programme under the supervision of Mulk Raj Sahni, he investigated on the fossils of the Himalayan region in Kashmir. He and Sahni published the first reports of fossils in 1964, the discovery of graptolites in two papers in Nature,[8][9] and fossil assemblage in two papers in Current Science,[10][11] and one in the Journal of the Palaeontological Society of India.[12] In 1966, Panjab University awarded him a Ph.D. on the thesis Palaeontology, Stratigraphy and Structure of the Palaeozoic Rocks of the Area South-East of Srinagar.[13]

Gupta soon joined the faculty of geology and produced his first Ph.D. scholar Inder Jeet in 1972.[14] Panjab University awarded him a D.Sc. in 1972 in recognition of his research, and created a separate chair, Director of the Institute of Paleontology, for him.[15] By 1989, he published over 458 research articles and five books on Himalayan geology.[4][15]

Gupta collaborated with 128 eminent scientists around the world,[15] including William B. N. Berry, Director of the University of California, Berkeley's Museum of Paleontology,[16] Gerhard R. Fuchs of the Geological Survey of Austria,[13] Philippe Janvier of the Museum of Natural History at Paris,[17] John Bruce Waterhouse of the University of Queensland,[18] Frank H. T. Rhodes from the University College of Swansea (later president of Cornell University),[19] Michael E. Brookfield of the University of Guelph in Ontario,[20] Makoto Kato of Hokkaido University,[21] Andrzej Gaździcki of the Polish Academy of Sciences,[22] Heinrich Karl Erben of the Institut für Paläontologie in Bonn,[23] and K. J. Budurov of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.[24] Gary Webster at the Washington State University coauthored nine of Gupta's papers.[25] With Susan Turner of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, he reported in 1973 the discovery of the oldest (at the time) fish in India that belonged to Devonian.[26]

In 1989, Gupta was exposed as a research fraudster by Australian geologist John Talent of Macquarie University.[27][28] In December 1990, the Panjab University received reports from the Geological Society of India and the Society for Scientific Values bringing out evidence of Gupta's elaborate misconduct. By that time, Gupta was professor of geology as well as director of the Institute of Paleontology of the Panjab University. Vice Chancellor Ram Prakash Bambah issued Gupta's suspension order in February 1991,[29] but reinstated by a new Vice Chancellor T.N. Kapoor in January 1992.[15] The University Grants Commission of India revoked its financial support to Gupta's lab.[30] In 1994, the legal inquiry led M. S. Gujral, a retired judge of the Sikkim High Court, found him guilty of research misconducts, but the university Senate decided to allow him continuation of service.[15] However, the university stayed his becoming a dean in 1994.[30] He was allowed to retire "normally" with superannuation benefits in 2002.[31]

After retirement, Gupta focussed on environmental issues and wrote seven books on the subject.[32][33]

Research misconduct

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Main article: Himalayan fossil hoax

Gupta's publishing record based on work purportedly made over 20 years consisting of more than 400 research papers came under scrutiny after Talent researched his claims and work for nearly nine years so as to make a clear case of fraud.[27] The discovery of the fraud began when Talent and John Pickett visited a road cut site in Nepal where Gupta had reported prolific numbers of Devonian conodont fossils. They found no fossils at nearly all the twenty sites he had mentioned but they found one site which yielded a fossil of a Silurian age. They subsequently chanced on his use of the same image in two papers and initially considered the possibility of an error through the addition of a wrong photograph. A more detailed examination showed that Gupta had used illustrations of fossils that were similar to specimens collected near New York by George Jennings Hinde in 1879. They interviewed coauthors, talked to Gupta on several occasions and made a detailed case after nine years of research accusing Gupta of willful and large scale fraud.[34][35]

Gupta attempted to respond to the claims with arguments from authority, noting the credentials of his co-workers.[36] The case unravelled with several co-workers realizing that they had been misled and who had assumed good faith, overlooked obvious contradictions and paradoxical results which would arise from the claims made, particularly in assuming that Gupta had collected the fossils where he claimed they had been found.[37][38] A range of other malpractices were also reported including the reuse of specimens from disparate locations, the use of a specimen that was found missing elsewhere, and plagiarism of images.[39][40][41]

John Talent received death threats from Gupta. In an interview to ABC he went on record to note that a technician in Gupta's department who threatened to reveal details of the fraud was reportedly killed in hit-and-run accident. Talent claimed that Gupta had offered money to hitmen to inflict injury on his enemies. The aged mother of one of the Indian co-authors of the report by Talent published by the Senckenberg Museum was hit and serious injured in a road accident.[4]

References

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  1. ^ Stevens, William K. (23 April 1989). "Scientist Accused of Faking Findings". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
  2. ^ Chaman, Vishakha (28 October 2017). "Journal club for Panjab University researchers likely". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  3. ^ Bharti, Vishav (3 April 2016). "Layers of dust years after 'Himalayan fossil hoax'". The Tribune. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
  4. ^ a b c "What happens to the Whistleblowers?". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 3 September 2005. Archived from the original on 11 September 2005.
  5. ^ a b Ruffell, Alastair; Majury, Niall; Brooks, William E. (1 February 2012). "Geological fakes and frauds". Earth-Science Reviews. 111 (1): 224–231. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2011.12.001. ISSN 0012-8252. S2CID 129095795.
  6. ^ Waterhouse, J. B. (25 January 1990). "The peripatetic fossils: part 4". Nature. 343 (6256): 305–307. doi:10.1038/343305a0. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 2281453.
  7. ^ "Department of Geology Panjab University Chandigarh ਪੰਜਾਬ ਯੂਨੀਵਰਸਿਟੀ ਚੰਡੀਗੜ੍ਹ पंजाब विश्वविद्यालय चंडीगढ़ पंजाब यूनिवर्सिटी चंडीगढ़ Chandigarh India". geology.puchd.ac.in. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  8. ^ Sahni, M. R.; Gupta, V. J. (25 January 1964). "Graptolites in the Indian Sub-continent". Nature. 201 (4917): 385–386. doi:10.1038/201385b0. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 4192515.
  9. ^ Sahni, M. R.; Gupta, V. J. (1 December 1964). "Graptolites from the Kashmir Himalayas, also a Note on the Discovery of Fossils in the Muth Quartzite". Nature. 204 (4963): 1081–1082. doi:10.1038/2041081a0. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 4218125.
  10. ^ Sahni, M. R.; Gupta, V. J. (1964). "Lower Palaeozoic Fossils from the Kashmir Himalaya" (PDF). Current Science. 33 (13): 402–403. ISSN 0011-3891. JSTOR 24061792.
  11. ^ Sahni, M. R.; Gupta, V. J. (1964). "Additional fossils from the lower palaeozoic of the Kashmir Himalaya" (PDF). Current Science. 33 (17): 527. ISSN 0011-3891.
  12. ^ Sahni, M.R.; Gupta, V.J. (1964). "First record of fossils in the Muth Quartzite". Journal of the Palaeontological Society of India. 4: 33–34. ISSN 0552-9360.
  13. ^ a b Fuchs, G.; Gupta, V.J. (1971). "Palaeozoic stratigraphy of Kashmir, Kishtwar and Chamba (Panjab Himalayas)" (PDF). Verhandlungen der Geologischen Bundesanstalt. 1 (6): 68–97.
  14. ^ "Contributions to the palaeontology and stratigraphy of the lower palaeozoics of parts of Baramula district Kashmir India". Shodhganga. 1972. hdl:10603/81836. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  15. ^ a b c d e Talent, John (1994). "Vishwa Jit Gupta's Fraudulent Enterprise: Unanticipated Finale talent 1994" (PDF). I.U.G.S. Subcommission on Devonian Stratigraphy Newsletter. 11: 68.
  16. ^ Berry, William B. N.; Gupta, V. J. (1966). "Monograptids from the Kashmir Himalayas". Journal of Paleontology. 40 (6): 1338–1344. ISSN 0022-3360. JSTOR 1301950.
  17. ^ Janvier, Philippe (1997). "In retrospect chosen by Philippe Janvier". Nature. 389 (6652): 688. doi:10.1038/39519. ISSN 1476-4687.
  18. ^ Waterhouse, J. B.; Gupta, V. J. (1 September 1979). "Early Permian Fossils from Southern Tibet, Like Faunas from Peninsular India and Lesser Himalayas of Garhwal". Geological Society of India. 20 (9): 461–464. ISSN 0974-6889.
  19. ^ Gupta, V. J.; Rhodes, F. H. T.; Austin, R. L. (30 October 1967). "Devonian Conodonts from Kashmir". Nature. 216 (5114): 468–469. doi:10.1038/216468a0. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 4268562.
  20. ^ Brookfield, M. E.; Gupta, V. J. (1988). "The Devonian of Northern Gondwanaland: A Himalayan Viewpoint and Terrane Analysis". Devonian of the World: Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on the Devonian System — Memoir 14. 1: 579–589.
  21. ^ Kato, Makoto; Gupta, Vishwa Jit (1989). "Late Palaeozoic Corals from the Himalayas". Journal of the Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University. Series 4, Geology and Mineralogy. 22 (3): 399–424. ISSN 0018-3474.
  22. ^ Gaździcki, Andrzej; Gupta, V.J. (1981). "Triassic foraminifers Involutinidae from West Carpathians and Himalayas - its stratigraphic and paleobiogeographic implications". Bulletin - Geological Society of India. 14 (2): 101–106.
  23. ^ Gupta, V. J.; Erben, H. K. (1 June 1983). "A late devonian ammonoid faunula from himachal pradesh, india". Paläontologische Zeitschrift. 57 (1): 93–102. doi:10.1007/BF03031752. S2CID 129440526.
  24. ^ Budurov, K. J.; Gupta, V. J.; Kachroo, R. K. (1 August 1984). "Some Permian Conodonts from the Zewan Formation, Kashmir Himalaya". Geological Society of India. 25 (8): 533–536. ISSN 0974-6889.
  25. ^ Stevens, William K. (23 April 1989). "Scientist Accused of Faking Findings". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
  26. ^ Gupta, V. J.; Turner, Susan (1973). "Oldest Indian Fish". Geological Magazine. 110 (5): 483–484. doi:10.1017/S001675680003627X. ISSN 1469-5081.
  27. ^ a b Talent, John A. (1989). "The case of the peripatetic fossils". Nature. 338 (6217): 613–615. doi:10.1038/338613a0. S2CID 37829395.
  28. ^ Kenyon, Clare (14 October 2022). "Scientific fraud, poor research and honest mistakes lead to thousands of retractions". Cosmos. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
  29. ^ Jayaraman, K. S. (1 February 1991). "Gupta faces suspension". Nature. 349 (6311): 645. doi:10.1038/349645a0. ISSN 1476-4687.
  30. ^ a b "The fraud of the century". DownToEarth. 15 February 1994. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  31. ^ Patnaik, Pratap R. (2015). "Scientific Misconduct in India: Causes and Perpetuation". Science and Engineering Ethics. 22 (4): 1245–9. doi:10.1007/s11948-015-9677-6. PMID 26197864. S2CID 255435474.
  32. ^ "Books authored by Vishwa Jit Gupta". www.exoticindiaart.com. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  33. ^ "Books by Vishwa Jit Gupta". www.gettextbooks.com. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  34. ^ Ruffell, Alastair; Majury, Niall; Brooks, William E. (2012). "Geological fakes and frauds" (PDF). Earth-Science Reviews. 111 (1–2): 224–231. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2011.12.001. S2CID 129095795.
  35. ^ Webster, Gary D. (2016). "An evaluation of the V. J. Gupta echinoderm papers, 1971–1989". Journal of Paleontology. 65 (6): 1006–1008. doi:10.1017/S002233600003331X. S2CID 132465759.
  36. ^ Jit Gupta, Vishwa (1989). "The peripatetic fossils: Part 2". Nature. 341 (6237): 11–12. doi:10.1038/341011a0. S2CID 186244440.
  37. ^ Erben, H. K. (1989). "Statement concerning a paper on Devonian allegedly Himalayan ammonoids". Paläontologische Zeitschrift. 63 (3–4): 335. doi:10.1007/BF02989519. S2CID 129369116.
  38. ^ Hughes, Nigel C. (2016). "The Cambrian palaeontological record of the Indian subcontinent". Earth-Science Reviews. 159: 428–461. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2016.06.004.
  39. ^ Waterhouse, J. B. (1990). "The peripatetic fossils: Part 4". Nature. 343 (6256): 305–307. doi:10.1038/343305a0. S2CID 2281453.
  40. ^ Talent, John A. (1990). "The peripatetic fossils: Part 5". Nature. 343 (6257): 405–406. doi:10.1038/343405a0. S2CID 4237302.
  41. ^ Talent, John A.; Brock, Glenn A.; Engelbretsen, Michael J.; Kato, Makato; Morante, Richard; Talent, Ross C. (1989). "Himalayan Palaeontologic Database Polluted by Recycling and Other Anomalies". Journal of the Geological Society of India. 34 (6).
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