Climategate Fail: Scientist Cleared Of Misconduct Charges
Climate science had a major victory yesterday: The academic misconduct allegations against climate scientist Michael Mann have been put to rest and the whole trumped "Climategate" scandal continues to deflate. Penn State University officially cleared Mann yesterday of deviating from standard academic practices.
The conclusion from the university's independent panel is significant on many levels. First, it's a crucial vindication for Mann, who was pilloried last year when hacked e-mails from East Anglia University suggested he had knowingly distorted global warming data. Second, Penn State had previously acquitted Mann of suppressing or falsifying data, deleting emails, and misusing confidential information, so today was the final phase in restoring his reputation. Third, the decision was also a major blow for lawsuit-happy Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who, in a one-man academic witch hunt, had recently subponea Mann's old records from the University of Virginia for supposedly manipulating taxpayer-funded research.
Most importantly, it's the latest incident to erode the entire Climategate controversy. Phil Jones, the head of the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia, was cleared of wrongdoing in a Parliamentary inquiry earlier this year. And just last week, the right-leaning Sunday Times of London published an article apologizing for "Amazongate," the twin scandal in which the paper had claimed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's figures on the Amazon rainforest were unfounded.
Yet interestingly, this high-profile exoneration, and the slower charge-by-charge take down of Climategate, has received relatively little press, at least compared to the firestorm that was created when the e-mails were originally leaked. It should be noted that all of these investigations have found that the science—and scientists—involved was not perfect and that mistakes were made. But the reports also state clearly that there was no deliberate wrongdoing. The essential facts remain scientifically sound.
But Mann, for one, doesn't see this thwarting the skeptics. His chilling words: "I don't doubt for a minute that the climate-change deniers will continue their campaign of disinformation and smear. That's all they've got left."
Photo credit: Shidairyproduct, FlickrUser
Nikki Gloudeman
is a senior fellow at Mother Jones magazine where she writes about the environment and other topics.
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