Abderhalden’s fraud still wins him some supporters : Article : Nature

In this week’s Correspondence pages of Nature (see above link for full text), U. Kutschera of the Univeristy of Kassel reminds readers that an old case of fraud is still being ignored in some quarters. From the Correspondence:

“Your Misconduct Special (Nature 445, 240–245; 2007) calls South Korean stem-cell biologist Woo Suk Hwang “arguably the highest-profile fraudster ever”. A look into the history of fraud in the biomedical sciences reveals at least one other strong candidate for this title.

In the area of human reproductive biology, the Korean scandal is overshadowed by the case of the influential German physiologist Emil Abderhalden (1877–1950) and the non-existent Abwehrfermente or ‘defence enzymes’ he claimed to have discovered. The shocking story of his fraudulent work, over a long period, has been told by Ute Deichmann and Benno Müller-Hill (Nature 393, 109–111; 1998).

Briefly, Abderhalden — a powerful and influential scientist — published a first paper on his “most important discovery” in 1909, and a widely read and translated book on the subject followed in 1912 (E. Abderhalden Abwehrfermente: Die Abderhaldensche Reaktion Theodor Steinkopff, 7th edn, 1944). The ‘Abderhalden reaction’ was used as a pregnancy test, and to treat various diseases. From 1914 on, biochemists tried to repeat Abderhalden’s experiments, but failed to achieve this. A number of experts published their negative findings, but Abderhalden continued to publish fabricated data until his death."

Prof. Kutschera concludes: "Worst of all, Abderhalden’s myth is still alive. For instance, on the German site of the Internet encyclopaedia Wikipedia, Emil Abderhalden was until this year listed as an “important physiologist and discoverer of the specific Abderhaldensche Abwehrfermente — he developed the first pregnancy test”. Similar admiring descriptions can still be found in the latest editions of German lexica such as Die Zeit: Das Lexikon 2005 . The authors refer to Abderhalden’s book, which remains available in libraries and second-hand, and is still taken seriously in the popular literature on biomedicine."