We list key people who made headlines this year, either by standing up for what they saw as right or by stopping what they felt was wrong.

Jenny Rohn

Most vital

Threats of budget cuts can leave some researchers paralyzed by stress. But for Rohn, a cell biologist at University College London, proposed cuts to science funding were a call to action. In September, she launched the Science is Vital campaign, which rallied several thousand people for a one-day protest outside the UK Treasury building. When the government later finalized austerity measures, allocations for science were dealt a lighter blow than other sectors.

Bruce Charlton

Most hypothetical

What would it be like if Bruce Charlton were still editor in chief of the journal Medical Hypotheses? Alas, we won’t know the answer to that hypothetical question. Following the publication of a paper questioning the causal link between HIV and AIDS, the journal’s publisher Elsevier pushed for Medical Hypotheses to adopt peer review. Charlton stood by his guns that doing so would turn the journal into a “zombie” publication and was ultimately forced out.

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