Physicist Sues Duke over Control of Lab

A scientist who invented a free electron laser more than a decade ago has filed a lawsuit against Duke University in Durham, N.C., over control of the laser.
John Madey received a four-year, $19.7 million grant from the Office of Naval Research to develop medical applications for the laser, which can be tuned to operate at different frequencies, making it potentially valuable for biomedical applications. Duke, which manages the grant, named physicist Berndt Mueller as principal investigator in place of Madey, offering Madey the title of chief scientist. Madey now claims that Duke made the change because the university wants to use "his" machine for research he hasn't approved.