Q&A: How a Stanford freshman brought down the president of the university

Rumors of altered images in some of the research papers published by Stanford University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne had circulated since 2015. But the allegations involving the neuroscientist got little attention beyond the niche scientific forum where they first appeared — until Stanford freshman Theo Baker decided to take a closer look.

Baker, a journalist for the Stanford Daily, published his first story on problems surrounding Tessier-Lavigne's research in November. His dogged reporting kicked off a chain of events that culminated this week with the president's announcement that he would step down from his post at the end of August.

Tessier-Lavigne acted Wednesday after an expert scientific panel convened by the that he failed on multiple occasions to correct errors in his published research on Alzheimer's disease and related topics, and that he managed labs that at times produced sloppy or even manipulated data.