THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING

Building on a Premature Claim: A Cautionary Tale

Author(s): Albert Meyer and Caroline Whitbeck

You see a very interesting conference article that sketched the proof of the "Sledgehammer Theorem." Using this powerful theorem, you write a journal article proving an important new result. After submitting your article, you develop doubts about the proof of the Sledgehammer Theorem. When you try proving it yourself, you cannot.

You contact the "Sledgehammer" authors to ask for a full version of their paper. They tell you it isn't quite ready (still working out a few bugs).

Is there anything you can do now?

• Return to Research Ethics Module Supporting Pages

• The Ethics of Research on Vulnerable Populations - Annotated Bibliography

• The Disappearing Bottles

National Academy of Engineering

500 Fifth Street, NWWashington, DC 20001T. 202.334.3200F. 202.334.2290