Prof. Noyori’s message, which appeared in the ‘Japan News’ by the Yomiuri Shimbun of March 2, 2014. Previously this daily was known as the Daily Yomiuri, until March 2013.
In his interview, Noyori gave a positive spin to Haruko Obokata’s research as follows. I quote extensively, because it is revealing of Noyori’s character and the current trend of direction at the RIKEN. “Obokata challenged herself. She has a very flexible mentality. Her talents and capability were inspired by exposure to many different kinds of people. I think RIKEN is the fourth place she has worked. Researchers, whether young or old, should not be isolated because this is an era of ‘network science’. We require team work, not group work. A team is different from a group. A group is just a structure with a large number of people, while a team refers to an effective interaction of functions. Nine players interact closely and cooperate with each other to win. In order to solve an important scientific or technological problem, you should collect or integrate people possessing various kinds of knowledge and expertise. Obokata’s discovery is the result of such fruitful teamwork.”
As of now, to the best of my knowledge, Prof. Noyori has not publicly retracted these thoughts on Obokata, as published in the Japan News of March 2, 2014.
下台吧。
