Is this person's claimed PhD in Physics verifiable?

[philosiphun]

Someone told me they have a PhD in Physics and I went to the school's website where they supposedly graduated(years ago) but cannot verify they even went to the school.(I also cannot find any works by them at all on the internet) Is this info usually kept confidential or should I be able to verify somehow this person actually has a PhD in Physics? Can anyone say, yes I have a PhD in Physics (or whatever subject) and no one be able to verify it either way? I've never really thought about it until I actually tried checking out this person's background...now I'm intrigued.

 

[quark80]

You can usually simply contact the school's administration and verify these things.

 

[George Jones]

Is this info usually kept confidential or should I be able to verify somehow this person actually has a PhD in Physics?

Go to the university's library webpage and type the person's name as author into the catalogue. Almost every university library has copies of Ph.D. theses produced at the university.

For example, "[URL Feynman[/URL] at Princeton.

 

[marlon]

Go to the university's library webpage and type the person's name as author into the catalogue. Almost every university library has copies of Ph.D. theses produced at the university.

For example, "[URL Feynman[/URL] at Princeton.

When i click on that link, i get a "There is no bib data attached to this record" message.

marlon

 

[robphy]

You may have to do your own query at http://catalog.princeton.edu/ [or generally the catalog of the school where the PhD was awarded]. Usually they are stored in microform format.

You may also try to access the http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/ database.

 

[PRodQuanta]

If he/she graduated fairly recently, you could try the http://www.archive.org/index.php" .

Paden Roder

 

[CPL.Luke]

calling/emailing the department head would probably be the easiest thing to do

 

[TMFKAN64]

The point of a Ph.D. is to have a verifiable way to announce to the world "See, I've jumped through these flaming hoops!" The ability to check a credential's validity with the granting institution is the key to the entire system...

 

[Ki Man]

Pester them about many fine details of their college learning experience like what classes they took and whatnot, then see how sure they are about their answers and whether they are hesitant.

Or ask a teacher for a college level physics problem and ask your PhD friend to explain the answer. IF they totally blow you off or seem lost, its likely they are lying.

Who are you doubting about on this. Is it a teacher?