Harvard's chemistry chair charged with lying about China contract

Harvard's chemistry chair charged with lying about China contract

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/harvard-s-chemistry-chair-charged-allegedly-lying-about-china-contract-n1124646?cid=eml_nbn_20200128

Excerpt: Charles M. Lieber, the chair of Harvard's Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, allegedly violated federal law by not disclosing his involvement in China's Thousand Talents Plan to the Defense Department, including money he received, according to the charging document. "The charges brought by the U.S. government against Professor Lieber are extremely serious," Harvard said in a statement. "Harvard is cooperating with federal authorities, including the National Institutes of Health, and is initiating its own review of the alleged misconduct." The university added that Lieber has been put on "indefinite administrative leave." The Thousand Talents program tries to recruit experts from Western universities to work in China and ramp up its progress in science and technology. In a complaint, the FBI said the program has "rewarded individuals for stealing proprietary information and violating export controls." The charging documents, unsealed Tuesday, allege that under the Thousand Talents contract Lieber was paid $50,000 in monthly salary by China's Wuhan University of Technology and another $158,000 in living expenses. He was also awarded some $1.74 million to set up a research lab there. [Surprise, surprise! It seems it’s entirely possible for elite professors to be as corrupt as ordinary folks. Who could’ve guessed? Ron P.]

Here's a total shocker.  An extremely distinguished scientist is charged with fraud related to Chinese activities.  What they don't spell out in this is that this kind of thing brings in a lot of money to the individuals involved, through various means.  What's sad is that a man like this one already has a very substantial income, not to mention a super job with huge prestige.  But money is one hell of a motivator, and when it starts coming in really big chunks, people can't resist it sometimes.

 

The Chinese now have a lot of their own good scientists and labs, but they still want to take advantage in every way they can of the brilliance and resources of science and technologies developed here.  There is no morality whatsoever involved for them, and we have been taken advantage of far too much for far too long.

 

People worry that a crackdown by the feds on Chinese activities will "hurt science", to which I say "Bull puckey", we need to absolutely come down on the thefts and influences by China here.  They are NOT our friend, and we need to recognize the reality of the situation we face with them.

 

Del