Aetogate: asking for answers in New Mexico

Mon Jun 16 11:15:45 BST 2008

Jeff Martz
Mike Taylor
Matt Wedel
Darren Naish

We are aware of scientific publications emanating from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science (NMMNHS) which appear to usurp the work of others without credit and to claim-jump names that others have planned to attach to taxa.

We have documented these issues as clearly as possible and invite the wider scientific community to decide for themselves whether our complaints are valid or not.

The allegations

• For those who don't have time to plough through the long documents, we provide a single-page capsule summaries of Parker's case, Martz's case and the case of Revueltosaurus with more to follow.
• We have documented this history of the three inquiries, none of them satisfactory, set up by the Department of Culture Affairs.
• We have documented the issues in great detail, with extracts of the relevant papers and copies of correspondence, in a timeline. This shows both the evidence for the presumed infractions themselves and details of our attempts to obtain explanations from various authorities.
• The sequence of events is discussed in a more narrative way in our (rather long) summary.
• Bill Parker has responded to Lucas's report on the allegations concerning Heliocanthus, showing that Lucas's account is incorrect in several significant respects. Jeff Martz has responded to the parts of Lucas's report that pertain to Redondasuchus. I have written to the NMMNHS requesting a copy of its Institutional Code of Ethics.
• We have now formally responded to the DCA's recent inquiry, with a letter to the DCA rejecting their findings and expressing no confidence in their ability or desire to investigate this matter properly. This response was accompanied by a detailed rebuttal of Lucas's defence and the inquiry panel's report. (The rebuttal contains largely similar material to Parker's and Martz's indivdual responses, linked in previous paragraph.)

• The the SVP findings concluded that "faced with conflicting testimonies, the Ethics Education Committee was not able to resolve these allegations in favor of either side, a position that does not absolve either party of responsibility", but along with this non-verdict also issued a new "best practices" document for VP professional conduct. We responded with a final statement. Finally, the SVP issued a addendum pointing out that they ignored all blogs and media coverage of Aetogate.

Press coverage

• The story has been covered in Nature (Unfortunately this is now behind a paywall. We are attempting to negotiate with the Nature Publishing Group to make this article freely available in the public interest.)

• The Albuquerque Journal has provided excellent coverage throughout, in the form of news stories, editorials, letters to the editor and even a cartoon. The Journal is also graciously allowing links from this site directly to the relevant content, skipping the video advert that some readers have had difficulty viewing.

  • February 3 News: Museum Boss Faces Ethics Charge (front-page lead)
  • February 8 News: Museum Ethics Spat May Get New Review.
  • February 10 Editorial: Dig for Truth About Museum Fossil Claim
             Cartoon: Political Museum [local copy]
  • February 19 Letters: Claims Against Scientist False / Students Don't Have a Bone To Pick (Laurence H. Lattman and Robert M. Sullivan)
  • February 21 News: Panel to Examine Museum Ethics Flap
  • February 22 Letters: Fossil Finds Must Be Shared / Museum Case Requires Inquiry (Kevin Padian and Mike Taylor)
  • February 23 News: Ethics Panelist Calls Museum Flap Baseless
  • February 24 Editorial: Old Bones of Contention
  • March 2 News: Who Controls Access to Research on Fossils?
  • March 3 Letter: Spencer Lucas a Gentleman (Ted Guinn)
  • March 4 Update: Review Finds Museum Scientist Innocent
  • March 5 Story: Review Panel Clears N.M. Museum Director
             Letter: Fossil Case Demands Inquiry (Angela Wandinger-Ness, for the New Mexico Academy of Science)
  • March 6 Editorial: Thorough Airing Ends Up a Waste of Oxygen
  • March 10 Update: Parker Responds to Lucas
  • March 17 Update: More Response from Museum Critics
  • April 8 News: Scientists: Museum Ethics Inquiry 'Travesty'
  • May 23 Update: Society Renders Lucas Verdict
  • May 24 News: Museum Ethics Case Closes With Mixed Ruling
  • May 28 Editorial: Tough Learning Curve for an Obvious Lesson

Outside commentary

• We're keeping track of coverage in blogs and elsewhere.
• Read some of the comments from professional palaeontologists.

If anybody has anything they would like us to add to this page, please email us at nm@miketaylor.org.uk with your comments, thoughts, documentation, opinions, etc. We are keen to hear what the palaeontological community thinks.

Finally, nothing would please us more than to find out that all of this has been a series of unfortunate misunderstandings. We particularly invite the NMMNHS staff at the centre of these events (Lucas, Hunt, Spielmann, Heckert) to contact us and explain how these events have occurred.