LK-99 superconductor physicist accused of ‘research misconduct’

Screenshot by Alex Cranz / The Verge

An probe has recovered that the physicist who claimed to person developed the world’s archetypal room-temperature superconductor engaged successful “research misconduct,” according to a study from The Wall Street Journal. Ranga Dias, a researcher and adjunct prof astatine the University of Rochester, has been nether probe by a committee of extracurricular experts since past August implicit concerns astir the accuracy of his findings.

“The committee concluded, successful accordance with University argumentation and national regulations, that Dias engaged successful probe misconduct,” a spokesperson for the University of Rochester tells the Journal.

Last year, Dias published a probe insubstantial successful Nature highlighting a worldly called LK-99. It claimed that the material could behaviour energy astatine ambient temperatures without resistance. The expected superconductor went viral connected societal media arsenic immoderate touted it arsenic a large physics breakthrough. However, the hype rapidly wore disconnected as scientists recovered inconsistencies successful Dias’ probe that suggested LK-99 is not a superconductor.

This paper, on with some of Dias’ different work, has been retracted. The committee “identified information reliability concerns successful those papers,” a spokesperson for the University of Rochester tells the Journal. The assemblage didn’t instantly respond to The Verge’s petition for comment.

Before the LK-99 investigation, the assemblage opened 2 inquiries into Dias’ research, but it decided against opening a afloat investigation. As noted by the Journal, the assemblage could besides determine to instrumentality unit enactment against Dias arsenic a adjacent step, which is handled by the institution’s provost.