Hwang Woo-suk's Stem Cell Fabrication

Hwang Woo-suk's claim to have created 11 patient-specific stem cell lines via cloned human embryos was hailed as a breakthrough before it unraveled spectacularly. In 2006, a Seoul National University panel confirmed that all data from his two landmark _Science_ papers were fabricated, and 9 of the 11 lines were fakes derived from conventional IVF embryos. The scandal devastated stem cell research, setting the field back by roughly 5 years and costing South Korea over $40 million in wasted funding. Hwang's deception outpaces #1 in scientific scale, involving a web of forged images, falsified DNA tests, and coerced egg donations that shattered institutional trust.