Florent Montaclair investigated over invented Nobel-style prize
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · May 7
Florent Montaclair investigated over invented Nobel-style prize
9 articles · Updated · The Guardian · May 7
Montbéliard prosecutors say the Besançon academic bought a €250 medal, staged a 2016 French National Assembly ceremony and may have used fake credentials for promotion.
Investigators allege the International Society of Philology and a linked US university existed only through websites hosted in France, while Montaclair denies criminality and plans to appeal a university suspension.
The alleged hoax also drew in Noam Chomsky and Romanian academic Eugen Simion before journalists exposed it in 2018; prosecutors will decide on charges soon, with a maximum five-year sentence possible.
How did a fake US university lead to a real promotion at a French public university?
Why did renowned intellectuals like Noam Chomsky fall for a completely fabricated academic award?
Does one professor's elaborate hoax reveal a deeper crisis of integrity within modern academia?