Chapter 9 — People Whose Achievements Are Stolen

“Tieu Tham…”

“I also don't want things to come to this step.”

“But the denunciation documents have quite complete evidence.”

“The Institute cannot help but investigate.”

He left. The enamel cup lid clanged against the rim of the cup twice. The sound echoed in the empty hall and then quickly disappeared. I stood in the middle of the large hall. Opposite is a bronze plaque engraved with seven words:

“Huaqing Materials Research Institute.”

Below the bronze plaque is a row of photos of outstanding academicians and alumni. The person in the far right photo... Co Hoai An. His name appeared at the bottom of the invitation letter that had been blocked. I stood in the hallway for ten seconds. Then take out your phone, open the cloud, and confirm all documents. Everything is still intact. I locked the screen, put the phone in my pocket and walked out of the research institute gate. Wednesday next week. Academic appraisal session. Nine o'clock in the morning. Large meeting room on the second floor. Attendees include: Tien Duy Quoc. Head of research management department Mr. Ha. Three appraisal experts were invited from outside. Chu Man is not on the list. Her rank is not high enough to participate in this level meeting. But when I entered the meeting room, I saw her standing next to the water dispenser in the hallway. She is pouring water. My eyes glanced over the edge of the paper cup, stopping on my face for a second. Chu Man held a glass of water and walked through the meeting room door. On the side of the paper cup were written two words. I calmly walked in and sat down near the door. The phone goes into silent mode. I opened the recording app and placed my phone under the documents on the table. Director Tien opened by announcing three contents of today's meeting: Annual project progress report. Dissertation appraisal.

“Investigation explanation related to data doubts of researcher Tham Niem.”

The third item is ranked last. The first two sections lasted nearly an hour. The research groups took turns reporting. Ly Phong, as deputy director, stood up to summarize. In his speech, Ha Uyen Thanh's name was mentioned four times. Not once. Go to the third item. The atmosphere in the meeting room changed completely. The three outside experts looked at each other. They were originally invited to participate in a normal academic appraisal. No one expected there to be another scene like this. Director Tien spoke up.

“Next, let's talk about researcher Tham Niem's progress in investigating the data issue.”

"The investigation team is led by deputy director Ly Phong and coordinated by researcher Dao Vien."

“Vice Principal Ly, please explain.”

Ly Phong stood up. Open the projector. A series of data comparison charts appear on the screen.

“Experts, this is the experimental data submitted by researcher Tham Niem in the self-healing coating material project, along with data from our research team's subsequent verification experiments.”

Ly Phong stood in front of the screen, his voice calm as if reading an extremely objective report.

“One can see that in the third and fifth sample groups, the performance parameters provided by Tham Niem deviate significantly from the research team's reproducible results.”

“The error level has gone beyond the reasonable error range.”

He turned to the next page.

"In addition, according to researcher Dao Vien's re-check, the original lab book submitted by Tham Niem had many traces of editing."

“Some times the editing isn't even there matches the equipment operating history.”

Next page too.

"Based on the above situations, the investigation team initially determined that researcher Tham Niem showed signs of modifying experimental data."

"Recommend that the Parliament be handled according to regulations governing the ethics of scientific research."

He turned off the projector and sat down. From beginning to end... Didn't look at me once. The meeting room was silent for a few seconds. An outside expert spoke up:

“Researcher Tham Niem is here. According to the process, she should be given the opportunity to explain."

Director Tien nodded.

“Tieu Tham, do you have anything to say?”

I stood up.

“I want to see the original data of the ‘replication experiment’ that the investigation team used for comparison.”

Dao Vien immediately interjected:

“The original data is located on the research management department's server. To access it, permission is required.”

“What about the equipment operating history?”

I turned to Ly Phong.

“You just said my lab book doesn't match the machine's history.”

“So where is that history?”

Ly Phong replied:

“That device just had its system upgraded last month. Historical data before the upgrade has been deleted.”

“Who arranged the upgrade?”

“The equipment room is arranged uniformly.”

“Do you back up data before upgrading?”

“You have to ask the equipment room about this.”

I looked at him. His hand was placed on the table, the tip of his thumb continuously rubbing the index finger joint.

“What do you mean…”

“The documents you used to conclude that I falsified data…”

“It was a group of replicate experiments where I didn't get to see the original data.”

“Along with a piece of the device's history being wiped clean?”

“Not deleting, but moving data after system upgrade…”

As soon as Ly Phong opened his mouth, I interrupted him.

“So where is the data after the move?”

“Can it be extracted?”