Voici l’éditorial de la revue « Nature » paru le 18 avril 2012 concernant l’histoire des neutrinos qui voyageaient plus vite que la vitesse de la lumière et les conséquences que ce discours a impliqué. Une belle leçon d’éthique!
- Published online 18 April 2012
If the public learned one thing about physics last year, it was that a particle had been found that might travel faster than the speed of light. Most people were probably vague about what the particle was, but they seemed to grasp the significance. The Universe’s speed limit was in doubt, and anything might be possible. The result, announced by scientists at the OPERA neutrino experiment in Gran Sasso, Italy, may have been wrong, but the message conveyed about science was not. Late last month, following a vote of no-confidence in their leadership, OPERA’s two top scientists resigned. Yet both men, along with the rest of the collaboration, can hold their heads high.
The vote and the resignations have not been officially blamed on the media circus over the faster-than-light neutrinos, which OPERA brought to public attention and was then forced to admit…