Alpha Institute for Advanced Studies (AIAS)

Miscarriages of Justice

It is generally recognised that grave miscarriages of justice occurred at UCW Aberystwyth in 1983 when my research group was destroyed deliberately shortly after I had been awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry's Harrison Memorial Prize and Meldola Medal (among the most prestigious awards in British chemistry). This is well known and well accepted as an injustice in the profession, but no coordinated effort has been made inside Wales to put it right. There have been many individual attempts by Ministers, M.P.'s and professional colleagues, all have been ignored by UCW Aberystwyth.

Another grave miscarriage of justice occurred at UNCC in 1995, when my salary, pension and benefits were removed in what can only be described as an act of brutal vindictiveness, apparently in response to a scientific idea of mine which has become hugely successful. As a result I have obviously been put into a situation of significant hardship. I have been unsalaried for over a decade, working voluntarily for science.

The British Government has acted to recognise and put right these grave injustices through the award of a Civil List Pension of 1,400 pounds a year, thus recognising my status as being among the best of British scientists of any era. My Civil List predecessors in the relevant area of speciality (chemistry and physics) were Dalton, Faraday, Joule, Fairfax-Somerville and Heaviside, all scientists of the first rank. However, I still have no salary, benefits nor pension, so I am, very obviously, severely restricted in what I can do. I am not entitled to UK incapacity allowance. Neither UCW Aberystwyth nor UNCC has acted in response to the lead of the British Government, both have been widely condemned by the profession.

Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court has questioned the methods used in the profession and I can well undertand the Supreme Court's concern. As is well known, the ECE theory has been hugely successful internationally. This is very pleasing, but shows that these injustices are appalling, among the worst in scientific history. They need to be put right.

British Civil List scientist