Glenn Reynolds has a post comparing ClimateGate with the Michael Bellesiles scandal. You can follow his links. Using probate and other data, Bellesiles claimed that the ownership of guns in early America was rare. He had faked his data, and his defenders made claims to authority similar to the defenders of global warming. It was just so good it had to be true, and we have peer review and all that.

Bellesiles lost his job at Emory and his Bancroft prize.