responsible researchers: local to global dimensions of ethics in science dr. julie dillemuth...

Responsible researchers: local to global dimensions of ethics in science

Dr. Julie DillemuthCNS-UCSB Education Director

NSF SES 05-31184

what is ethics?

“standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do,

usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society,

fairness, or specific virtues.”

Manuel Velasquez, Claire Andre, Thomas Shanks, S.J., and Michael J. Meyer (1987) “What is Ethics?” Issues in Ethics IIE V1 N1

What are ‘ethics’ issues in

science

and

engineering

specifically?

ethics in science and engineering

- methods & data treatment- error, negligence

- societal impacts- misconduct

- openness

- conflict of interest

- values

- giving credit

Global

responsibility across scales

Local

Following the rules of science (& UCSB)• Part of “being a scientist”• Dilemmas: right or wrong not clear or easy

What ethical situations have you encountered in your lab or office?

ethics in science – ‘local’ responsibility

Everyday ethical situations

• Methods: treatment & interpretation of data

• Error & negligence

• Misconduct

• Allocating credit

• Openness & Conflicts of interest


Science ethics issues:

Good data/bad data & expectations• When do you reject ‘bad data’? When can you ‘round off’ a

value?• EXAMPLE: Millikan’s Oil Drop Experiment

– First precise measurement of electron charge: 1.592 x 10 -19 Coulombs– ‘It is to be remarked, too, that this is not a selected group of drops but represents all of the drops

experimented upon during 60 consecutive days..’ Milliken, 1913– Notebooks indicate 140-175 measurements– ‘There can be no doubt that Millikan excluded at least some of his data on the basis of his

preconceptions’ A. Franklin, The Neglect of Experiment

www68.pair.com/willisb/millikan/experiment.html

Slide: Evelyn Hu, “Issues of Ethics in Science” talk, UCSB 2008

More on Millikan Millikan’s value for electron charge: 1.592 x 10 -19 Coulombs

(today’s value, 1.602 x 10 -19 Coulombs)

It's interesting to look at the history of measurements of the charge of an electron, after Millikan. If you plot them as a function of time, you find that one is a little bit bigger than Millikan's, and the next one's a little bit bigger than that, and the next one's a little bit bigger than that, until finally they settle down to a number which is higher. Why didn't they discover the new number was higher right away? … it's apparent that people did things like this: When they got a number that was too high above Millikan's, they thought something must be wrong - and they would look for and find a reason why something might be wrong. When they got a number close to Millikan's value they didn't look so hard. And so they eliminated the numbers that were too far off, and did other things like that. -R. Feynman, 1974 Caltech


1.592

Electron charge (units of 10-19 C)

1.600

1.596

1.604

Millikan’s value

Time

Today’s acceptedvalue


• Methods: treatment & interpretation of data• Error & negligence• Misconduct

“A scientist can be brilliant, imaginative, clever with his hands, profound, broad, narrow—but he is not much as a scientist unless he is responsible.”

—ALVIN WEINBERG, "The Obligations of Citizenship in the Republic of Science," Minerva, 16:1-3, 1978



Creating False Data

J.H. Schon, 2001: 1 paper/8 days: Nature, Science…. Revelation of duplicated data on different papers May 2002 Bell Labs set up commission to investigate Sept. 2002: Final report

– 24 allegations of misconduct. – Evidence of scientific misconduct in at least 16 of them. – Entire data sets were reused in a number of different experiments. – Graphs of experimental data had instead been produced using mathematical functions.

J. Schon, C. Kloc, B. Batlogg

N.Y. Times, Oct. 15,2002


Ethics in groups, colleagues…..

What if you suspect a colleague, or a senior scientist is falsifying data?

What if your colleagues are ‘running with’ your results faster than you feel comfortable?

What if your lab-mates are using unsafe practices? What if your results are being used and advertised, but

you are not told?



• Error/negligence

• Misconduct: fabricating, falsifying, plagiarizing




Sharing credit…the issue of Photo 51

Photo 51

Not to be confused with Area 51

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki Slide: Evelyn Hu, “Issues of Ethics in Science” talk, UCSB 2008

Sharing credit…the issue of Photo 51

Photo 51

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki

X-ray diffraction: revealed the structureof DNA


The double-stranded helix

http://nobelprize.org

James WatsonHarry Crick

Maurice Wilkins

"for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material"

1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine


The double-stranded helix

James Watson

Harry CrickMaurice Wilkins

First X-ray diffraction picturesof DNA, 1950

Rosalind Franklin

‘inherited’ DNA project, new X-ray equipment,graduate student, Raymond Gosling

King’s College, London

Cambridge University

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/photo51/

Anatomy of Photo 51

Rosalind Franklin’s data may have been criticalto Watson, Crick and Wilkins in understanding thestructure of DNA



• Error/negligence

• Misconduct


• Openness & conflict of interest



• You are asked to peer-review a paper for a journal, in your area of expertise (and hence, research). Double-blind.

• The paper presents a brilliant solution to a problem you have been wrestling with. If you apply this knowledge to your own work, you will be able to make great progress, apply for funding, publish sooner.

What could you do? What would you do?

ethics in science – scientific community

Situation:

What is the potential impact of your research on society? The environment?

What are the risks and benefits? To whom?

How is your research used? Who decides?

ethics in science – ‘global’ responsibility

Step out of your lab or office

Scenario

The year is 1943 – the world is at war

You, a brilliant physicist, are approached to work on a top-secret atomic bomb project.

- Meet & work with the top scientists in the country- Theoretically proven, but never before attempted- Super exciting area of physics research- End the war (by bombing Germany, taking out Hitler)- Race with Nazis – who will get the bomb first?

What do you do? Join the project or not?


What happens next…

The year is 1945 – the bomb is finished! By June, Germany is defeated, by July, decoded messages indicate Japan is preparing to surrender

Aug. 6 – the US uses your atomic bomb on Hiroshima

Aug. 9 – the US uses your atomic bomb on Nagasaki

Estimate: 100,000 immediate deaths, 300,000 by 1950 (radiation effects) (wikipedia.org)


Scenario based on American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, 2006 biography by Bird and Sherwin

Issues & Problems?

Unintended consequences (incl long-term effects)

Who controls how the technology is used

Mis-use - Used in ways you didn’t intend

Other?


Science in society: you don’t work in a vacuum

Who’s making decisions about:•Funding?•Social acceptance?

ethics in science – ‘global’ level

Example: solar technology


1954 innovation

1979 White House Roof

Source: UCSB Prof. Chris Newfield

Example: solar technology


1979 prediction: 20% of energy from solar by 2000.American energy independence

2000 reality: 0.1% of electricity from solar

50 years? Really?

Obstacles: cost, efficiency, funding for R&D, policySource: UCSB Prof. Chris Newfield

Example: Supersonic commercial flight

New York London: 3 hours

in 1976

So why does it still take us 8+ hours?

Cost, fuel, environ’t/noise concerns, no profit…http://www.britishairways.com/concordehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde


@ UCSB:

not at UCSB:Science & Technology Studies (STS) Major & department

Societal implications of technology

Center for Information Technology and Society

UCSB Center for Nanotechnology in SocietySocial Scientists, Humanists, and Scientists/Engineers

Researching social and environmental issues regarding the– creation– development– commercialization– production– consumption, and – control

of specific nanoscale technologies

• Who cares: government, policymakers, industry, scholars, educators, regulators, NGOs, voters, consumers - YOU!

• Research:– Historical Context of Nanotechnology– Innovation, Technology Transfer– Risk Perception– Media Framing, Public Sphere– Globalization

• Student Training:– Fellowships for grad students– Undergrad internships

• Public Engagement:– NanoMeeters (science café)– NanoDays Public Event– Presentations to students

Ethics in sci/engr is about

your responsibility as a researcher

summary

Local Global• Methods: treatment & interpretation of data• Error/negligence• Misconduct• Allocating credit • Openness & Conflicts of interest• Societal implications: use, benefit, decision-making, impacts

On Being a Scientist: Responsible Conduct in Research, Second Edition, National Academies Press, 1995 (www.nap.edu)

Thanks to Prof. Evelyn Hu for Millikan, Schon and Franklin examples, and for general inspiration, thanks to Prof. Chris Newfield for solar example

CNS is funded by the National Science Foundation, award NSF SES 05-31184

Acknowledgments

Example: Digital Audio Tape

1987: Sony & Phillips develop digital audio tape (DAT).

Music recording industry concerned

1992: Congress passes Audio Home Recording Act for copy protection, royalties…

David Haskin, Don't Believe the Hype: The 21 Biggest Technology Flops. ComputerWorld article Apr 4, 2007


1970s

Mid-80s

responsible researchers: local to global dimensions of ethics in science dr. julie dillemuth...

Documents

issues of ethics

science talk

republic of science

global dimensions of

rules of science ucsbpart

ethics iie v1 n1what

evelyn hu

electron charge units