Talk:Walter Gilbert

message: Why isn't he an AIDS dissident? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.139.24.99 (talk) 19:15, 14 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Gilbert once said that the HIV theory was unproven; according to the AIDS journalist Richard Jefferys, he's since changed his mind: "I am afraid that those comments go back to the late 80's. At that time I was a skeptic--the argument based on Koch's postulates to try to distinguish between cause and association... Today I would regard the success of the many antiviral agents which lower the virus titers (to be expected) and also resolve the failure of the immune system (only expected if the virus is the cause of the failure) as a reasonable proof of the causation argument." (Source) Trezatium 21:32, 5 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: So far I have been unable to verify that info from other sources, so I am removing it from the article until someone can provide a reliable source as per WP:RS (a post in a blog, where someone associated with the AIDS-orthodox organization Treatment Action Group claims to reproduce a private email from Gilbert, is not a reliable source per Wikipedia guidelines). Given the relevance for his reputation (since he would be leaving what the AIDS orthodoxy labels as the "pseudoscientific" side), one would expect that Gilbert would have made his change of mind public through some verifiable source such as a press release, a published interview, or a notice in his own website. Uaxuctum 10:49, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

text: OK, I agree. I've removed the offending statement. Would be nice to have a good reference to resolve this issue, but I've been unable to find one. Trezatium (talk) 14:34, 12 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Views on AIDS

message: Surely he didnt work on the "synthesis of insulin" as a protein -- done much earlier -- but the synthesis of the nucleic acid sequence coding for Insulin. ? 21:03, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: synthesis

message: His   posting of the reliable  gives his statement about what he believes. He is a reliable source for what he himself believes. DGG (talk) 06:06, 13 February 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: It's hardly newsworthy; he probably changed his mind many years ago. Richard Jeffreys is a well-known, respected activist and writer; I very much doubt he would invent this email. Trezatium (talk) 17:12, 14 February 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: what's more to the point is that the original skeptical comment was, as WG says, an offhand remark, that was picked up by the anti-AIDS people. It would be impossible to document that it was his settled opinion in the first place.  I'm sure there's more documentation to be found, but its not a newsworthy reversal except to those who took it out of proportion in the first place. Its not news when a biologist says: "I believe in real science, just like I always did." DGG (talk) 06:04, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

text: He almost certainly didn't sign the petition. Instead, his name was added by one of the administrators of the list based on what he'd reportedly said. This is consistent with his name appearing in black rather than blue in the list you refer to. Trezatium (talk) 22:04, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

text: Yes, and black means they were added by the admin, with or without consent. Trezatium (talk) 13:30, 29 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: AIDS

message: First, just to be upfront about what could be construed as a COI, I was a Ph.D. student of Gilbert's. I am trying to be scrupulous about citing sources to balance that potential bias (though the truth is that most people who have worked with Gilbert will have both positive and negative opinions of him -- he is not simple!). I've started some edits tonight, as I found the scientific & biographical information was incomplete, colorless & out-of-date.  Among the key points previously lacking were his purification of the lac repressor, his term as CEO of Biogen (and the fact he left Harvard during that time), his involvement in the AIDS controversy & has involvement in the Imanishi-Kari affair (not to mention his retirement and post-retirement career as an artistic photographer).  The fact he was recruited to biology by James Watson via Gilbert's wife is a next bit to add. Krobison13 (talk) 02:49, 14 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: General Expansion