I made an offhand comment in another thread about someone deserving to have their doctorate degree "revoked" by the granting institution. This got me thinking: has anyone ever heard of a doctorate degree being revoked for any reason other than issues with the thesis or coursework that came to light after the person earned the degree?

Yes, I have. A physicist at Bell Labs who got his degree in Germany.

 

... pause to Google ...

 

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/8224/8224physicist.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Hendrik_Schön

 

Scientific fraud was indicated, subsequent to his thesis. The university stripped him of his degree.

So in the Shon scandal, the fraud was unrelated to his PhD thesis, and he got it revoked anyway? Interesting...

I figure it happens for unethical conduct.

Not as far as I know. Unethical conduct will get you struck off whatever register you're on that allows you to practice (if you're on one), but it won't get your degree revoked. They see a distinction between whether or not you're qualified to practice and whether or not you should be allowed to practice.

A bit unusual. I guess that happens with high-profile fraud. But then not revoking degrees are lightly not to make a difference, as he likely won't get a (science) job anywhere now.

However, this is accordance with the laws of the federal state where he got his PhD, which allows revoking the degree even if misconduct happened afterwards.

In particular this law allows revoking the degree if the holder has been shown to be "unworthy" of it. "Unworthy" is meant within a scientific scope. This law is rarely invoked, though.

One idea behind this is that if anyone is shown to be unworthy of the degree at any time, he/she wasn't ever allowed to get the degree in the first place. I don't know whether other (federal) states have similar rules.

Though I would expect that most would rule as Glider mentioned.

Robert Mugabe had an honorary degree from Edinburgh University revoked recently.

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article1896047.ece

Robert Mugabe had an honorary degree from Edinburgh University revoked recently.

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article1896047.ece

 

I particularly enjoyed their choice of photograph; the "Hitlerian salute" always goes down well.

I don't think that honorary degrees are in the same category, though. That's based on reputation and fame, and accomplishment outside of the university, while a regular degree is based on accomplishment within the university. If you prove yourself not worthy of the honor, oh well. As Robin Williams once put it (about his own honorary degree), it's like a nerf vibrator. Looks good, but doesn't do much for you.

 

Under most circumstances, if you go off and embarrass yourself, academically or otherwise, there's really nothing the university could do. I think in the Schon case, the stance was that proper research methods and academic integrity were part of the degree, and he demonstrated that he had not actually learned those things properly.