2023-08-26 17:00:12
Find all the episodes of the “Fraud Hunters” series here.
Leonid Schneider, 45, went to a good school to specialize in exposing research articles with doctored, even invented results, and to become one of the best-known fraud hunters in the world of science.
“During my master’s and my thesis in molecular biology, I learned how to fabricate experimental data”he says bluntly, triggering a flood of words that describes the horrors encountered in his laboratory in Düsseldorf, in the 2000s. “I had to change the microscope settings to change the results because my manager felt they weren’t what was expected. He even threatened to suspend my grant, of 300 euros monthly, if I did not do it. I refused and my scholarship has not been suspended. But others have invented data. »
After leaving this team, the Ukrainian, who arrived in Germany at the age of 15, continued his “training”. “My new manager was a psychopathic tyrant who treated us like slaves. When I left, they withdrew my name from the project and almost prevented my defense. »
This apprentice researcher, who had chosen biology for the love of animals, then left to “improve” in Italy. “I found massive fraudsters there and understood that great newspapers were often built on m…”he decides with the direct tone which is one of the hallmarks of his blog, « For Better Science »launched in 2015 to demonstrate that its experience, admittedly unlucky, is not so uncommon. “These years made me incompatible with the academic world”he notes with the permanent smile that animates his face.
However, he was not done with the annoyances. Before launching this blog, now his main activity – along with that of a stay-at-home father – the ex-researcher converted to journalism, working in particular for the journal specializing in the world of research Lab Times (since disappeared). “We separated because we didn’t have the same views on animal protection, and because I was investigating ‘friends’ of the editorial staffhe summarizes. I don’t like injustice or authority. »
Overwhelmed and “lazy”
The character stands out in the small world of detectives tracking down scientific misconduct. He adopts a sarcastic tone on his blog, which sometimes damages the credibility of his revelations or stories. “We have the same objective, but not the same ways”, notes Elisabeth Bik, another very famous hunter, who had some disagreements with him. Dorothy Bishop, who, like her colleague, adopts a very polite tone in her speeches, finds it too “extreme, and black and white”. He is cold with Ivan Oransky, of the specialized media Retraction Watchand with one of the founders of the PubPeer site, forum of reviews of scientific articles, in which he draws abundantly his examples. Twitter (today X) banished him… Like a “blue helmet” on a minefield, the New Zealander Smut Clyde, whose tickets are hosted and directed by Leonid Schneider, recognizes that his colleague has a “very personal tone”.
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