Max Planck’s 1940s Papers: Why Were Two Retracted?
▼ Summary
– Max Planck, a pioneer of quantum mechanics and 1918 Nobel laureate, had two of his 1940s papers retracted by the journal *Naturwissenschaften*.
– The journal removed the papers entirely, leaving blank pages and a note citing a “withdrawal due to article violation,” unlike its usual practice of marking retracted papers with a notice.
– Physics historian Yves Gingras discovered the retractions while browsing a blog list of Nobel winners with retracted papers and investigated with colleague Mahdi Khelfaoui.
– The journal’s current editor-in-chief, Suzanne Scarlata, was unaware of the retractions and attributed them to an algorithmic mistake that should be corrected.
– The publisher Springer Nature reportedly still charges $39.95 for the empty PDFs, though the files were freely accessible in the author’s test.
The quiet world of scientific publishing was rocked by an unexpected discovery: two papers by Max Planck, the Nobel Prize-winning father of quantum theory, had been retracted decades after his death. For historians Yves Gingras and Mahdi Khelfaoui, the finding was baffling. Planck’s legacy is untarnished by scandal, and his 1940s work should have been beyond reproach. Yet there it was, listed on a Retraction Watch blog post about Nobel laureates, flagged as withdrawn.
The retractions appeared in Naturwissenschaften, now known as The Science of Nature. Typically, the journal marks retracted papers with a large notice while keeping them accessible. But in Planck’s case, the articles were removed entirely. Visitors now find only a blank page and empty PDFs, accompanied by a cryptic note stating the papers were “withdrawn due to article violation.”
Gingras, a physics historian at the University of Quebec in Montreal, stumbled across the entry while browsing out of curiosity. He immediately contacted Khelfaoui, a colleague at the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivieres, to launch an investigation. Their findings, posted as a preprint on the physics arXiv, reveal a puzzling lack of clarity. The journal’s current editor-in-chief, Suzanne Scarlata of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, told Science reporter Sam Kean she was unaware of the retractions. “That’s crazy,” she said. “I don’t understand why they were flagged. I think it just happened with their algorithm. It’s a mistake they should probably rectify.”
The situation raises questions about automated systems and oversight. While Kean reported that Springer Nature still sells the empty PDFs for $39.95, downloading both files for free proved straightforward. The incident highlights how even the most respected figures can become casualties of flawed digital processes, leaving historians and scientists alike scratching their heads.
(Source: Ars Technica)