WASHINGTON (AP) ? Ethicists are criticizing a prominent scientist for misrepresenting himself to obtain and then leak sensitive documents from a conservative think tank that campaigns against mainstream global warming science.
Peter Gleick (GLEEK), president of a California water research institute and winner of a MacArthur genius grant, admitted Monday night in a blog posting that he pretended to be a board member to get fundraising, budget and other documents from the Heartland Institute in Chicago. He said he then sent the documents to the media.
Gleick not only is prominent as an advocate of mainstream global warming science, writing articles for the popular press, but he chaired a scientific society’s ethics panel as well. Last week, before revealing his document theft, he resigned as ethics committee chairman of the American Geophysical Union.
