Science and Fraud Brynn Hibbert (UNSW) and Norman Swan (ABC) Wednesday 26 May, 1999, 7-9pm Science in the Pub this month deals with the issue of fraud in Science, its use and abuse. Our two distinguished panellists are Professor Brynn Hibbert from the School of Chemistry of the University of New South Wales, and Dr. Norman Swan of the ABC Health Report. They both have extensive experience in dealing with this issue in their own professions. Wilson da Silva bravely stepped into Paul Willis's shoes as compere for SciPub 22 after Paul had succumbed to the dreaded beer-drinkers lurgy that morning. Brynn Hibbert, Wilson da Silva and Norman Swan trot their stuff The audience are (mostly) engrossed! Norman Swan is best known for The Health Report which he produces and presents for Radio National, the Australian Broadcasting Corporations' national network-and is co-presenter of Life Matters-also on Radio National. The Health Report is a weekly topical program dealing with medical and health issues for a general audience. Since The Health Report's creation, it has achieved a high profile and won Gold Medals at the 1986 and 1987 New York International Radio Festivals. A producer with the ABC's Science Unit since 1982, in 1984 Norman was named Australian Radio Producer of the Year and was also awarded a Gold Citation in the united Nations Media Peace Prizes for his radio work. In 1988 he won the Australian Writer's Guild Award for best documentary. This was for his program on scientific fraud and Dr William McBride. He also won two Walkley National Awards for Australian Journalism including the Gold. In 1989 he was given Australia's top prize for Science Journalism, the Michael Daley Award. In 1995 Norman won the Peter Grieve Award for Medical Journalism and the Kellogg's Nutrition Journalism Award. Nowadays, in addition to The Health Report and Life Matters, Norman can be heard as a frequent contributor to programs such as AM and PM. He also edits his own newsletter The Health Reader which is published in the United Kingdom as well as Australia. In television he has been a host of ABC television's Qantum and a guest reporter on Four Corners. He created, wrote, and narrated Invisible Enemies, a four-part series on disease and civilisation shown on SBS Television and Channel 4 (UK); and co-wrote and narrated The Opposite Sex for ABC Television. Brynn practicing for SciPub Brynn Hibbert I was born in Yorkshire, England, and not being a good enough cricketer became a scientist because I had an elder brother who was good at it. I received an honours degree and PhD from King's College, University of London. Trained as a physical chemist I was appointed to the Chair of Analytical Chemistry at the University of New South Wales in 1987. I have an eclectic interest in chemistry and science. My major research areas are in electrochemistry and electroanalytical chemistry, and in chemometrics. I have published on electrodeposited fractals (front cover of Nature) and have an interest in non-linear dynamics. At present I am developing sensitive `electronic noses' with the Centre for Chemosensory Research at the University of New South Wales. I am a keen Skeptic with an interest in scientific fraud, both from professional scientists who should know better, and from back yard inventors who may not realise they are offering to violate the laws of the Universe. This arises from an unfortunate experience with "Brown's gas" and the Sydney Morning Herald, which resulted in a front page headline that read "Water into Fire an inventor's triumph". For my poems I have chosen a little known verse form, that if beat up enough could vie with the haiku for the pretentious art of the year award. Encyclopaedia Britannica writes: The clerihew, a "baseless biography," consisting of a four-line stanza of two rhyming couplets, the first rhyme being provided by the name of the subject, was introduced by Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875 ñ 1956) in Biography for Beginners, (1905), and was immediately popular and soon widely imitated. (Copyright 1994-1999 Encyclopaedia Britannica) A couple of scientific examples : Sir Humphey Davy Hated gravy He died in the odium Of discovering sodium Louis Pasteur As many aver Was on first name terms With all kinds of germs   For my poems I have penned these clerihews on notable scientific frauds, blunders &etc Doctor McBride Lied and lied Debendox Gives you the pox The bones of Gupta Were not up ta Much. Not hills afar But the local bazaar Dean Briggs Should have stuck to earwigs His experimental exception Was contraception Fleichmann and Pons Made a few neutrons But cold fusion Was just an illusion Brown's gas Has no mass Perpetual motion Is a ridiculous notion Stanley Meyers Needs no wires Energy for free Was not to be Or even for my partner in SciPub: Norman Swan Is seldom wrong In matters scientific He's pretty terrific Norman Swan draws the winning ticket from Sandra McEwen Phil Vardy describing his experience of blowing the whistle in the William McBride fraud   `Science in the Pub'(TM) is an initiative of the Australian Science Communicators (NSW) and supported by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It is staged from 7.00-9.00 pm on the last Wednesday of the month (Feb - Nov) at the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel (also known as the Harlequin Bar), 152 Harris Street, Pyrmont, 2009. (Telephone (02) 9660 8146. UBD Map ref pg235 P10.) Dinner is available from the Thai restaurant attached to the pub. Parking is difficult-best at the Casino. For further information on `Science in the Pub' please contact Robyn Stutchbury on rstutch@ozemail.com.au of Peripatus Productions Pty Limited, 1 Carisbrook Street, Lane Cove 2066, Tel: 02 9427 6747, Fax: 02 9418 9605 Next Science in the Pub session, June 30: `Genetic Engineering', a joint session with the Australian Biotech Association on the theme of Genetic Engineering. Presenters to be announced. In Sydney.
Science in the Pub™, © 2000. Stutchbury, R, Burton, M.