Talk:Suicide of Jason Altom

Suggested references
There are articles in Chemical and Engineering News and The New York Times that could be cited here. I'll see if I can find them later... --Itub 21:38, 29 March 2007 (UTC)
 * by coincidence I read the one provided in the Corey article and included it V8rik 21:40, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

The main article says "1972 - 1998" but the Corey paper says "This article is dedicated to the memory of Jason D. Altom (October 6, 1971 - August 15, 1998)." AdderUser (talk) 14:49, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Additional References
1. "Who will mentor the mentors?", Djerassi, Carl. Nature, 1999, 397(6717), 291. 

2. "Reflections on the death of a young scientist." Nature, 1998, 395(6705), 823.

3a. "Lethal Chemistry at Harvard." Hall, Stephen S.. New York Times Magazine, 11/29/98, Vol. 148, Issue 51356, 120-128. (Sunday Magazine)

3b. Several follow-up Letters: New York Times Magazine, December 20, 1998, pp. 16-20.

4. "Suicide highlights graduate student woes." Nadis, Steve. Nature, 1998, 395(6705), 826.

5a. "Harvard Faces the Aftermath of a Graduate Student's Suicide." Schneider, Alison. Chronicle of Higher Education, 1998, 45(9) (October 23), A12.

5b. CHEd Colloquy:

6. "A Student's Suicide Prompts Suggestions for Reforms in Graduate Education." Chronicle of Higher Education, 1998 (November 20), B3.

7. "A Scholar Makes Peace With Academe." Olsen, Victoria, C. Chronicle of Higher Education, 1999 (January 22), page?

8. "'Bahramdipity' and Scientific Research." The Scientist, 1999, 13(3), 13 (1 February 1999). 

9a. "Suicide spurs GSAS, Chem. Department to Review Advising," Mandel, A. K. The Harvard Crimson, September 14, 1998, 1. 

9b. "Chemistry Grad Student Dies." The Harvard Crimson, September 11, 1998.

9c. "Chemistry Dept. Changes Ph.D. Advising System." Mandel, A. K. The Harvard Crimson, September 17, 1998.

9d. "Chem. Dept. Priorities Reflect Larger Harvard Problem." Queeney, Katie. The Harvard Crimson, September 18, 1998. 

10. "The Ivory Sweatshop?" Budiansky, S. U. S. News and World Report 1999, 126(12) (March 29), 102-3.

11a. "Graduate School; Smoothing the Passage." Brennan, M. B. Chemical and Engineering News 1999, 77(4) (January 25), 11-19.

11b. Several follow-up Letters: "Graduate School Stress." Chemical and Engineering News, 1999, 77(14) (March 1), 6-8. AdderUser (talk) 14:49, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Biased statement
The last sentence on this page reads, "However [sic] despite the fact that Altom had completed the vast majority of the work on the project, he was not given first authorship on the paper by Corey."

The wording chosen makes it sound like Corey was deliberately denying Altom whatever credit he deserved. While that may or may not be the case, it would have been inappropriate to list Altom as the principle author of the work. I presume, since others had to finish the work, that the paper was not simply adapted from a draft that Altom wrote but was instead written by the listed first author. The rules on who should be listed as an author rarely include statements to the effect, "Person did a substantial portion of the research." Instead, they usually include something like, "Developed protocols, reagents, or other entities necessary to the publication of the paper." Technicians, for example, are rarely included as co-authors on papers at all despite doing nearly all of the actual lab work in many cases. The first author, however, should always be the person who had the most to do with actually writing the paper.

Not listing Altom at all would have been a slight, but merely not listing him first is not only OK, but expected. I recommend striking the last sentence entirely. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kaiserkarl13 (talk • contribs) 17:43, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

Since no one objected, I have removed the aforementioned sentence. Kaiserkarl13 (talk) 02:02, 20 January 2010 (UTC)


 * In any case, it isn't the general practice in chemistry to list the principal author first. Indeed, there is a tendency -- far from a rule -- to list the most senior author last, as here:  "A.  Student; A. Postdoc; E. J. Corey." MarkBernstein (talk) 15:24, 16 September 2014 (UTC)

External links modified
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BLP1E
This should go to AFD as it is a single event BLP1E.2607:FEA8:D140:8D0:3C6E:8110:7899:7786 (talk) 05:29, 2 December 2017 (UTC)

Comments attributed to Corey
"Corey, speaking of the suicide note, states: '[T]hat letter doesn't make sense. At the end, Jason must have been delusional or irrational in the extreme.' Corey also is on record as stating that he never questioned Altom's intellectual contributions. 'I did my best to guide Jason as a mountain guide would to guide someone climbing a mountain.  I did my best every step of the way,'  Corey states. 'My conscience is clear.  Everything Jason did came out of our partnership.  We never had the slightest disagreement.'"

Could not find a source for these comments. I'll leave them here for now. --Rifleman 82 (talk) 22:29, 18 March 2018 (UTC)