Penn State panel clears climatologist Michael Mann in e-mail case
By Faye Flam
Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer
In a report that may help dispel the so-called Climategate scandal, a Pennsylvania State University panel Thursday fully cleared climatologist Michael Mann of professional-misconduct allegations.
The university launched an inquiry in November after hackers exposed more than 1,000 private e-mail messages sent between Mann and colleagues in England.
Critics of climate scientists said that statements in the e-mail messages exposed climate change as a hoax and revealed a deliberate cover-up. The stolen messages were touted in blogs and op-eds as reason to doubt the widely held view that the global climate has warmed substantially over the last century and that human-generated greenhouses gases play a role.
"I knew ultimately I'd be vindicated by a fair review of the facts," Mann said. "Now we can all hopefully get back to doing research."
This case is unusual in that the investigation was prompted by calls and e-mail from university alumni, state and local politicians, and others, according to a draft of the report. Usually, universities launch scientific fraud investigations only when specific charges are brought by a colleague.
A draft of the report released Thursday concluded that "the Investigatory Committee after careful review of all available evidence, determined that there is no substance to the allegations against Dr. Michael E. Mann, professor, Department of Meteorology, Pennsylvania State University."
Mann is best known for advancing the use of tree rings, ice cores, corals, and other indirect measures to reconstruct the global climate over the last millennium. His graphs tracing global temperature history have been dubbed the "hockey stick" because the temperatures appear to rise sharply during the last century.
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