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Re: [Phys-l] Prof. Hal Lewis resigns from APS



To no surprise, there doesn't seem to be a consensus on GW/CC or even on what steps have been taken or need to be taken on which to base a consensus or reasonable assessment.

What physicists and physics educators might address, here and to their students, is the action that Prof. Lewis took - releasing a letter given his reasons for resigning from the APS.

Presuming he was scientifically honest to himself and not "paid off" or mentally incompetent (documentation of which should be included in any such allegation), was Prof. Lewis' resignation a reasonable thing for a scientist to do given the conclusion reached from his assessment of the facts?

If the opposite situation were to have occurred, where Prof. Lewis would have argued his conclusion that the APS's dismissing GW/CC without scientific justification was a scam, would a similar letter of resignation from the APS still be reasonable?

Should a physicist weigh the certainty of his politically-sensitive scientific assessment being correct, and publicly disclosing it, in proportion to any tenure he is anticipating, the amount of grant-receiving career he has left, or perhaps the reputation he has earned to date?


Rick Strickert
Austin, TX