That Torquemada believed fervently was little comfort to those burned. He probably has convinced himself that the more effectively he grubs money the better the economy goes; why, doesn't he see every day billion-dollar innovations like a laser targeting mosquitoes?

Your thinking so does not make it so.

I fail to see any reason why being a skilled researcher has any relevance to question of one's ethics. There's no logical connection between the two. A trivial case in point: according to social science research, conservatives -- under-represented in academia and thus less likely than liberals to be "skilled researchers" -- give more charity than liberals.