Re: ALH84001.
Hoffman:
"Now all that may sound very emotional and unscientific, but what has been happening is that McKay et al. "cheated" in the scientific process. They got Presidential support for a premature conclusion in a highly contentious area.
"The scientific "establishment" banded together to try to undo this "unfair" promotion of unscientific claims, and the McKay team banded together to try and protect their reputations.
"Pretty soon, nobody cared about the Nobel prize, it was their careers on the line."
I would say Mckay et.al. reputations as scientists have been enhanced by this debate, even if no final conclusion is reaced on ALH84001.
Bob Clark