Purdue panel finds misconduct by fusion scientist

The Purdue committee submitted its findings in April to the Office of Naval Research, which funded some of Taleyarkhan's research. Purdue said Friday the naval office accepted the report, calling it prompt, thorough and objective.

"From small beginnings there developed a tangled web of wishful thinking, scientific misjudgment, institutional lapses and human failings," the committee wrote. "Each strand could have been resolved separately, but knitting them together produced a crisis."

University policy includes a 30-day appeal process for Taleyarkhan. Purdue said it will not comment on the report's content during that period, but David J. Williams, who leads the Purdue University Senate's Faculty Affairs Committee, said the document is an unflinching look at the case.

"Issues of research integrity are of the utmost importance to the university," Williams said.

Any decision on sanctions by the university would come after the appeals process is over.

Gene Sprouse, editor-in-chief of the American Physical Society, which publishes Physical Review Letters, said the society would also take no action before the appeal period has expired.

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Science writer Malcolm Ritter in New York contributed to this report.

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