Pseudoscience generates a new kind of organized crime

SCIENTISTS FROM THE HIGH ROAD
"Pseudoscience generates a new kind of organized crime," says Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Eduard Kruglyakov
Nina Ruzanova, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, 21.10.2009

With the chairman The Commission on Combating Pseudoscience and Falsification of Scientific Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the author of a series of books about pseudoscience, we met on the eve of the anniversary. Tomorrow Academician Kruglyakov turns 75 years old.

Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Eduard Pavlovich, is "a new kind of organized crime" a beautiful term by the author, or is there reason to believe that fraudsters from science act together and on a large scale?

Eduard Kruglyakov: Pseudoscience has become a noticeable phenomenon in many countries of the world. Well, Russia, unfortunately, is among the leaders here. What happened here in the 90s is indescribable: there were about 200 (!) different "academies". And the main goal of many "academics" is to gut the pockets of our citizens. For example, a completely new direction of energy has appeared, which has nothing to do with science. These are the so-called vortex generators. With their help, it is allegedly possible to receive significantly more energy than spent from the network. The most brazen of them claim that the efficiency of their generators is 1300 percent! Do you think that if a group of scammers creates a company, produces and sells vortex generators, is it organized crime or not?

RG: So, maybe the authors are just mistaken, sincerely believing in the effectiveness of the invention?

Kruglyakov: No. They know for sure that they are deceiving people. In the sixth issue of our newsletter "In Defense of Science" one of the articles will be devoted to vortex generators. It was prepared by Academician Evgeny Alexandrov from St. Petersburg. He met with the heads of the companies that produce them and suggested: let's check your generators. The businessmen agreed, but it didn't go any further. I told Alexandrov, don't wait, write an article, they will never go to any checks anyway. But when they found out that the article was still being prepared, artillery preparation began. An opus of one of these scammers appeared on the Internet. I don't mention their last names, because even at the cost of a scandal they crave fame.

So, in this opus, our commission was vilified, which was created allegedly in order to hide the sins of the Academy of Sciences. But "real scientists" see what they are doing – 1300 percent efficiency!..

Of course, such things should end with criminal prosecution, but our prosecutor's office, in my opinion, is just napping. She doesn't even notice when pensioners are robbed by scammers who sell a variety of miracle remedies for all diseases. There are a lot of examples, for example, in the Novosibirsk region there is a certain Gennady Markov, who for many years has allegedly been treating people for cancer with an absolutely absurd method from the point of view of science. But he generously pays for the enthusiastic articles of corrupt journalists, and people come to him from all over the country. By the way, actor Viktor Avilov, who died here in Novosibirsk, fell for such an advertisement...

RG: Why can't you get the charlatan to stop his activities? You head a commission specially created at the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, but vortex generators are still being sold, and cancerous tumors are being "bombarded" with radiation unknown to science.

Kruglyakov: What do you want me to do? Contact the prosecutor's office on every occasion? There won't be enough time. Our job is to tell the media about different types of fraud, but law enforcement agencies should respond to this. By the way, sometimes there is a reaction. For example, the sale of elixirs based on water, in which the "health matrix" is imprinted, has recently been banned. But there is no systematic persecution of near-medical scammers. The state is obliged to do this, not the commission. Remember Grigory Grabovoi – I've talked about him wherever I've performed, probably I've eaten everyone's bald head. In the end, he was imprisoned, convicted of fraud. But it happened only after he announced that he would run for president.

RG: And yet the composition of the commission on combating pseudoscience increased last year from 12 to 42 people - so your work is in demand? Has it been possible to achieve mandatory expertise of scientific projects that are supposed to be funded by the state?

Kruglyakov: Now in almost every city where there is serious science, there is our representative. We receive a lot of requests from the presidential administration, from the government apparatus, the State Duma, the Federation Council, from governors. Over the years, we have considered thousands of proposals, and there has not been a single case yet that a positive conclusion has been given.

As for the mandatory examination, our commission is not able to organize such a large–scale work - after all, the state has a huge number of projects. The reliable mandatory examination system that existed in Soviet times was destroyed in the early years of the Russian government. It must be restored, otherwise public funds will continue to be stolen, and nothing new will be done. This is especially true for closed, secret projects. Putting things in order here is not as difficult as it seems: there are about 400 institutes in the Russian Academy of Sciences, each of them can give expert opinions in their field.

RG: However, many scientists reproach that the leadership of the Russian Academy of Sciences allegedly does not give way to new theories, defends outdated dogmas. People with scientific degrees regularly come to the "RG" with such complaints. What will you answer them?

Kruglyakov: Because of the many academies that have proliferated, it is now difficult to say whether people with real degrees or those purchased from these academies have actually applied to you. Most likely, the latter. What can be answered here? There is a certain system in science. In any scientific journal there are authoritative experts who review every manuscript submitted to the editorial office. The conclusion of two or even three such reviewers is discussed at the editorial board, where the manuscript is accepted or rejected. This is a worldwide practice. If the article is not accepted in Russian journals, the author has the right to try his luck in foreign journals. Only, I'm afraid the result will be the same. It's not the Academy of Sciences that's the point here, but what the author is trying to publish.

There is a type of people who believe that if their theory is published, they will benefit humanity. I know many authors of this type. The saddest case was in the Kuban: a man sold his house in order to present his own vision of the world in four volumes. I sent it to the academy, I even have this treatise somewhere. It's a pity, of course, the author, but what can you do – there is no scientific basis there...

RG: Who is more among those who are trying to promote their own projects – falsifiers or sincerely deluded?

Kruglyakov: I don't know, but of course there are a lot of amateurs. For example, the author of one project, which was classified as "top secret", claims that if you create a gravitational wave generator, then using focusing effects (I do not know how to focus, but the author knows better), you can direct this radiation to the point you need in space, and any flying up to us the enemy missile will be instantly hit. This is an absolutely insane offer. In order for the generator of gravitational waves to work, and even of great power, monstrous masses are needed, which are not on Earth. Nevertheless, this is why the prolific author, who made about eight similar proposals, and all for the Ministry of Defense, had to gather a group of experts, spend a lot of time to explain that this is all, excuse the expression, bullshit.

RG: But is it possible that the same crazy project will pass you by and it will be implemented?

Kruglyakov: Of course. The same story is known with Yeltsin, who, being with us in Novosibirsk, at the Institute of Nuclear Physics SB RAS, asked: "Can you extract energy from a stone?" I replied: "Boris Nikolaevich, there are heavy elements, and when they are split by neutrons, energy can be released, nuclear power plants work on this principle. There are light elements – energy is released during synthesis, this is the principle of operation of future thermonuclear power plants and hydrogen bombs. The middle of the periodic table is absolutely stable, and miracles cannot be expected here." "That's what you think, but they reported to me that it is possible," he replied. I couldn't help myself: "Well, in that case, charlatans reported to you." Yeltsin was very offended. And then Academician Koptyug told me: "But Yeltsin has already spent 120 million rubles on this." That is, $200 million at that time. Nine years have passed. The money disappeared. But has anyone ever heard of extracting energy from a stone?

RG: Does nanotechnology, a popular trend today, attract scammers?

Kruglyakov: At last year's congress on nanotechnology, they were, as they say, in the forefront. A businessman from Yakutia, a member of the Presidential Council of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), presented nanotechnological developments with which it is possible to reduce fuel consumption in engines. He had everything broken down by stages. The first stage: fuel consumption is reduced by 20-30 percent, the second – by half, on the third – the car goes without fuel at all, but with the help of a mysterious energy-information exchange between the gas tank and the magic pill. Scammers have such a concept, it is especially successful in medicine.

And in St. Petersburg there is a certain Viktor Petrik, an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences and five other academies, a doctor of technical sciences. Sometimes he is called a doctor of physical and mathematical sciences, however, the Higher Attestation Commission denies that he has a degree. He claims that he uses nanotechnology filters to make water clean. Petrik won a very prestigious competition, and now this gentleman's filters are already being used in several regions of the country, they are planned to be installed in kindergartens and schools. Although, in my opinion, this is unacceptable. As you know, new medicines, in order to get the right to life, undergo a long and thorough examination. And here filters made allegedly on the basis of nanotechnology are installed without any checks, condemning people to be guinea pigs.

Moreover, at one of the international economic forums, Viktor Petrik announced the creation of a technology that makes it possible to purify radioactive water, turning it into the purest drinking water, and even of the highest quality. I contacted my colleagues from Chelyabinsk, and they sent me a conclusion, from which it follows that Mr. Petrik is wishful thinking. As follows from the conclusion, in fact, the technology does not exist. Even with reduced plant performance, the residual radioactivity of strontium-90 reached 20-40 becquerels/liter. The norm for drinking water is 4-8 times lower, that is, you cannot drink this water. If the water is purified on an industrial scale, the residual radioactivity exceeds a thousand becquerels / liter.

Dossier "RG"Eduard Pavlovich Kruglyakov is an experimental physicist, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Head of the Department of Plasma Physics at Novosibirsk University.
Born on October 22, 1934 in Krasnodar. In 1958 he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and was invited by G. I. Budker to the newly created Institute of Nuclear Physics SB RAS (Novosibirsk). In 1975 he defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic – plasma retention in a multi-test magnetic field. Laureate of the USSR State Prize, awarded the orders "Badge of Honor", "Friendship" and "Public Recognition".