George Deutsch joined the US space agency via a White House appointment, and tried to get a staffer at NASA to add the word “theory” to every instance of Big Bang on NASA’s web sites.
The New York Times had to give credit to the Scientific Activist blog run by a Texas A&M graduate named Nick Anthis. It was Anthis who blew the whistle on Deutsch, who did not actually graduate from Texas A&M in 2003 as he had claimed in his rsum.
Deutsch gained a position at NASA as a political appointee, after having worked on President Bush’s re-election and inauguration. That appointment saw him gain a position in the agency’s public affairs office, which has been a flashpoint for complaints to the Times from climate scientist James Hansen and other public affairs staffers.
Those complaints alleged Deutsch played a role along with others in limiting Hansen’s discussions on global warming; Hansen’s views on the topic differ from those of the White House. The scientist is no stranger to controversy; author and scientist Michael Crichton publicly challenged Hansen’s hypotheses in the novel “State of Fear.”
Another complaint said Deutsch wanted a web designer to place the word “theory” on NASA web pages wherever the Big Bang was mentioned.
Anthis became involved when someone informed him Deutsch had never graduated from Texas A&M. After contacting an alumni association to confirm that accusation, Anthis posted it to his blog and theorized on how Deutsch slipped into the job:
…how did this guy, who already had dubious qualifications, make it into NASA with such an obvious lie on his resume? To work for a federal agency, including NASA, extensive background checks are usually required. If I was able to uncover the truth about Deutsch in one phone call, then he must have been placed in his current position without any investigation…
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David Utter is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business.
