Despite their ostensible intelligence, academics are not at all immune to engaging in risky behaviors that erupt in spectacular displays of controversy. Even if they ultimately prove innocent or unaccountable, their situations always pose inevitable questions about the ethics and legalities behind the research and publication process. The following incidents in particular managed to spark fireworks on an epic scale, inciting a flurry of insight into what needs to be done to better prevent any potentially damaging abuses. Stephen Ambrose : This popular historian and professor enjoyed bestseller status and mainstream recognition for his inquiries into World War II, most notably The Wild Blue , and biographies of presidents Eisenhower and Nixon. By 2002, however, it came to light that Stephen Ambrose quite shamelessly plagiarized much of his research from lesser-known contemporary Thomas Childers, the author of Wings of Morning . Forbes launched a pa...