San Diego

An Arizona State University (ASU) geographer under federal investigation for possible scientific misconduct is suing the authors of an article in Science that claimed that the geographer's rock-dating methods were fundamentally flawed.

According to court records, Ronald Dorn contends that the authors “intentionally manipulated, omitted and misrepresented data for the purpose of making it appear [Dorn] engaged in professional misconduct and impropriety”. The authors include leading Earth scientists from the University of Arizona and Columbia University.

The article reported that 80 of Dorn's samples of rock varnish contained what appeared to be pieces of coal and charcoal-like material (see Science 280, 2132–2135; 1998). Mixing these substances — which have widely differing radiocarbon dates — can produce any desired date for a sample.

Dorn's dating method involves scraping varnish off rocks and employing radiocarbon labs to date samples from geological formations and rock art sites.

Some authors of the Science article first reported suspicions about Dorn in 1996 to the Office of the Inspector General of the National Science Foundation (NSF), which funded much of Dorn's research on the questioned samples of rock varnish (see Nature 392, 218–219; 1998).

ASU has completed its investigation of Dorn, according to a university official, and sent its findings to the NSF's inspectors, who will determine whether any misconduct occurred. Neither ASU nor NSF officials would disclose the university's conclusions, nor comment on the probe.

Dorn filed his lawsuit on 25 June, a day before the statute of limitations would have expired for filing a complaint about the Science article. Dorn's attorney, Terry Hall, did not respond to interview requests.

Dorn's lawsuit was filed against Warren Beck, Douglas J. Donahue, A. J. T. Jull and George Burr, of the University of Arizona's NSF-funded Accelerator Mass Spectrometer Laboratory; Wallace S. Broecker of the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, which is also a named defendant; and Ekkehart Malotki of Northern Arizona University.

Dorn also sued the wives of the scientists, in an apparent attempt to maximize potential economic recovery and pressure. But the lawsuit does not name Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, the Swiss institution whose staff contributed to the Science article.

Tommy Thompson, the University of Arizona's attorney for that campus's authors, declined to comment, as did those of the authors contacted by Nature. The authors have denied previous contentions by Dorn that they manipulated results to impugn him. Court records show that Dorn's attorney has not served the authors with the lawsuit, which officially starts the court process before a judge. The attorney must serve the defendants within 120 days from 25 June or risk dismissal of the case.

Dorn is suing for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and interference with prospective economic advantage. In the latest twist in the case, on 21 September Dorn's attorney filed a claim — a prelude to a lawsuit — against the University of Arizona and its authors, alleging that they mislabelled, confused or contaminated 96 rock samples submitted for radiocarbon dating. Dorn is seeking $482,542 in damages.