Because of his prominent role in climate change research, Penn State University's Michael E. Mann was a controversial figure even before he became mixed up in the controversy surrounding hacked e-mails at the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit.

To climate change deniers, this scandal was the final proof that researchers had cooked their findings in support of bogus science with a political agenda. Of course, it was no such thing.

For one thing, one British university doesn't encompass the universe of scientific opinion. For another, none of the e-mails showed that scientists like Dr. Mann were insincere in believing in the existence of global warming, as injudicious as their private comments might be.

For those who doubt this judgment, the involvement of Dr. Mann, director of Penn State's Earth System Science Center, should be instructive.

An academic committee at Penn State looked into Dr. Mann's e-mails for evidence of wrongdoing. Although no formal allegations were filed, the committee synthesized general concerns into four general allegations. In its report Wednesday, it vindicated Dr. Mann on three of them and left one to be further investigated.

Did he engage in any actions with the intent to suppress or falsify data? There's no credible evidence. Did he try to delete or conceal e-mails? Again, no credible evidence. Did he engage in any misuse of privileged or confidential information? No credible evidence.

It was only on the fourth allegation concerning any serious deviation from accepted academic practices that the committee decided that more review was necessary. But that is the least of the concerns.

People heavily invested in attacking climate change will consider this a whitewash, but there's no evidence for that. This was a serious inquiry by a university whose reputation was on the line. And, to fair-minded people, the findings speak loudly that the wildest claims have no basis in fact.

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