Musings

Stuck in the Bog

The Bogdanov story just gets weirder and weirder. The following details come from John Baez.

• Indeed, as I reported earlier, the Bogdanov brother were claiming to have PhDs in physics back in 1991 when they wrote their book Dieu et la Science. Unfortunately, the claim was false, and the book was plagiarized from The Secret Melody by Trinh Thuan, an astronomer at the University of Virginia. The fact that they had falsely claimed to have PhDs became an issue at the subsequent trial.
• At the time of the trial, they tried desperately, but unsuccessfully to get PhDs on the quick. That attempt was unsuccessful, but not long afterwards (1993), they started work at the Université de Bourgogne, and eventually, they did get their PhDs: Grichka in Math (June, 1999), and Igor in Physics (July, 2002).
• Dennis Overbye of the New York Times is looking into the case. I imagine the Science Times article which ensues with be a “keeper”.
• The Editorial Board of Classical and Quantum Gravity has taken the unusual step of issuing a statement expressing regret that the Bogdanov paper made it through their referee process, though it “does not meet the standards expected of articles in this journal.”

Ah, the French, the French…