Talk:George Grüner

Latest comment: 5 years ago by Spintendo in topic Edit request from article subject

Edit request from article subject edit

This was sent to OTRS (#2018042710000561) and is posted here with the permission of the original sender. The wikiformatting is my own, otherwise I have not altered the text. Yunshui  08:00, 4 May 2018 (UTC)Reply

Dear Wikipedia team,

I am George Gruner, the subject of the Wikipedia page

The posting is full of errors and misleading statements. I list some of these below. They give ample evidence that the author has no sufficient command of English, and does not have the educational background that qualifies him or her to write an appropriate summary. I hope these comments will convince you that the posting has to be taken down, or replaced by a page that conforms with the standards of Wikipedia. I note that I have tried to follow the advice above that you have given, but I find navigating the various sites with all the instructions nearly impossible. Thus the reply for your mail.

What follows below are the two paragraphs of the posting together with my comments.

Posting:

George Grüner is a Hungarian-American physicist, currently the Distinguished Professor of Physics at University of California, Los Angeles and also a publisher author. He was a Highly Ranked Scientist in 2003 and has been one of the most widely cited scientists for his research, holding a current high of 1,448 citations, and also widely held as an author with a total number of 2,842 libraries, the highest held book is in 457 libraries. Along with being named a Technology Pioneer at the World Economic Forum in 2003, he has also been accepted other positions such as the Honorary Professor at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Guggenheim Fellow, Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Fellow of the American Physical Society, Alexander von Humboldt Senior American Scientist Award and the Distinguished Lecture Award at the University of Hong Kong.

The above paragraph is full with errors, grammar, conceptual, clerical. These make it clear is not familiar with the way universities, and science communities in general operate. Likely due to non-sufficient educational background.

Some of the most obvious stylistic mistakes:

  • Line 2 “publisher author”
  • Line 5 “widely held as an author…”
  • Line 6 “highest held book”

Misrepresentations due to unfamiliarity with the subject matter:

The number of citations to articles written by Gruner is about 35 000 (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1mgA1YgAAAAJ&hl=en) and not 1,448. In general the number of citations increases with time, thus by citing one number, correct at one time, the author of the article makes abundantly clear that he or she is not familiar with the methods of how accomplishments in science are evaluated and monitored.

George Gruner is not THE Distinguished Professor but one of the Distinguished Professors at UCLA (see also below). The “Guggenheim Fellow” reflects elected membership in a learned society, and is NOT a position. The same holds for other awards listed. Being a member of learned societies is NOT an “accepted position”.

Education and career

He was educated at Eötvös Loránd University and Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He was the Professor of Physics at UCLA from 1980 to 1987, when he subsequently started the Distinguished Professorship. Other positions he has held are Visiting Professor, University of Stuttgart, Visiting Professor, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Visiting Professor, University of Augsburg, Visiting Professor, ETH Zurich, Visiting Scientist, Max Planck Society, Visiting Professor, University of Groningen, Visiting Professor, University of Genoa, Visiting Scientist, Imperial College London and also Distinguished Visiting Professor, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. He has also been the Editor of the Institute of Physics's journal Transitional Materials Research and Journal of Nanotechnology.

There are several misleading statements in every sentence.

  • First sentence. The Hungarian Academy of Sciences is NOT an educational institution.
  • Second sentence. “He was the Professor” is not correct English
  • “Subsequently started the….” not correct English
  • The “Distinguished Professor” title is designated for exceptional achievement. Gruner continues to serve as professor but with the title of “Distinguished Professor”. The expression “he subsequently started …” is not correct recognition of this fact.
  • Third sentence. The expression “Other positions he has held” is not correct. Professors usually visit other institutions while retaining their positions at home. Thus these are not “Other positions”. The latter are designated in a biography to prior positions, held before the current ones. Also “Visiting Professor” should be mentioned only once. The correct statement is: “He has held Visiting Professor positions all ower the World, including ……. And by the way, he was Postdoctoral Associate at Imperial College London, and before being appointed at UCLA he worked at the Central Reserach Institute of Physics in Budapest, Hungary.
  • Last sentence. Gruner IS and not “has been” the Editor in Chief (and not Editor) of the the journal Translational Materials Research. He is on the Editorial Board of the journal Nanotechnology.

Posted on behalf of article subject by Yunshui  08:00, 4 May 2018 (UTC)Reply

Reply 04-MAY-2018 edit

I appreciate Dr. Grüner's message, and I apologize for what can seem, at times, to be labyrinthine procedures at Wikipedia. Dr Grüner's post above recommends choosing one of two different courses of action: deletion or revision. He does not specify both be done in succession ("I hope these comments will convince you that the posting has to be taken down, or replaced by a page that conforms with the standards of Wikipedia.") As his request is for one or the other to occur, which one would he like performed? It is my understanding that Wikipedia prefers revision over deletion. If that is the case, my question then asks, with what material should that task be undertaken? Dr. Grüner has provided some details with his post, but no references. The article as it stands now gives one significant reference: a page-length biography posted by UCLA. Is it Dr. Grüner's wish that this biography be entirely re-paraphrased and placed into the article? It would be helpful if Dr. Grüner specified that as the course of action he'd like editors to take. Please advise.   spintendo          10:41, 4 May 2018 (UTC)Reply

It would also be helpful to get the Wikipedia:WikiProject Physics in on this for anything in depth which might be added. I will contact them and see what can be done.   spintendo          10:51, 4 May 2018 (UTC)Reply
I saw the notice over at WikiProject Physics and gave the article a first go at cleanup. I believe the errors noted in the complaint above have been addressed, but someone else should verify that just to make sure. XOR'easter (talk) 18:56, 4 May 2018 (UTC)Reply
  Thank you very much!   spintendo          14:26, 5 May 2018 (UTC)Reply