Hoax Museum Blog: Urban Legends

More on the Reverse Sokal Hoax — Regarding the Reverse Sokal Hoax described below: apparently the two brothers supposedly involved in it have denied that it was a hoax (see their statement pasted below). So the mystery continues.



TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN It was with the greatest astonishment that we have discovered that 2 members of the Ecole Polytechnique and 2 members of the University of Tours were the sources of an incredible rumor meant to validate the idea>that our papers were purposly written in serious journals as a hoax. Such an assertion is so outrageous that it discredits its authors. The published papers are the result of 6 years of intense and original work induced by our 2 PHD thesis in mathematics (1999, for Grichka) and in Theoretical Physics for myself (2002). We have always done our best to bring the highest quality to our work and papers. Thank you for your kind attention, Igor BOGDANOFF, Grichka BOGDANO
Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2002.   Comments (0)
Reverse Sokal Hoax — There is an e-mail going around detailing a so-called 'reverse Sokal hoax.' I'm not sure if the circumstances it describes are real or not. But here's the text of the e-mail verbatim:

Sometime ago Alan Sokol et al wrote a completely meaningless article on quantum gravity which was accepted by a leading, refereed "deconstructionist journal". Physicists laughed because the hoax was at the deconstructionists' expense. But now there is is an inverse Sokol hoax in which, apparently, two reporters interviewed a lot of string theorists, wrote meaningless but "right sounding" papers and even got a Ph.D. Details below. What is particularly sad is that a key paper appeared in CQG: Class. Quantum Grav. 18 (7 November 2001) 4341-4372 Topological field theory of the initial singularity of spacetime* Grichka Bogdanov and Igor Bogdanov, Mathematical Physics Laboratory, CNRS UPRES A 5029, Bourgogne University, France

The trouble is that the abstract seems indistinguishable from standard stringy papers. I understand that the CQG Editorial Board already discussed this hoax but found that the paper had been refereed by two reputable string theorists.

More details: From Max Niedemayer to Ted Newman #1. I always thought Sokal's hoax would also work in theoretical high energy physics. Now there is experimental proof. Two brothers, Igor and Grichka Bogdanoff, journalists and science fiction writers, both in their late 40's, decided it is high time to earn a PhD, and that this should be just as easy in `stringy' high energy physics as it alledgedly is in sociology. First they interviewed a number of prominent French string theorists in order to accquire the lingo, then (apparently without help from a trained physicist) spoofed two theses. To prepare the ground for their defense they spread rumors of them being geniuses and their theses being a milestone in theoretical physics. Although the official PhD awarding institution is only the (so far not too renowned) Universite de Bourgogne the members of the thesis committee certainly make up for it: R. Jackiw (MIT), J. Morava (John Hopkins), S. Majid (Cambridge), C. Kounnas (ENS), I. Antoniadis (CERN and Ecole Polytechnique), and others. For the actual defense they rented a hall in the prestigeous Ecole Polytechnique, arranged a big dinner with the president, invited the TV, ... and passed gloriously. The thesis can be found on the offical CNRS server (http://www.ccsd.cnrs.fr/). Already the abstract is a delightfully meaningless combination of buzzwords, that almost beats Sokal's, but which apparently has been taken seriously by the committee! The bad side of the joke is, that it might hurt theoretical physics in general. The CNRS apparently even contemplates to split the present theoretical physics division into a pure mathematics and an experimental physics branch. Theoretical physics, being now more fiction than science, is meant to be entertained by professionals in that area. Hopefully the Bogdanoff "singularity invariant'' for the "topological expansion phase'' of the universe will provide a way out ... I'll keep you informed. Best regards, -- Max



#2. Dear Ted, sure you can show the letter to others. Let me stress however (and maybe you should too) that this is not first hand information. A person who has first hand information is J. Magnen, from the Ecole Polytechnique. He works on constructive QFT and was not personally involved. The issue was apparently discussed in the French National Research Council, where Peter Forgacs is a member, and he is my source. A small correction. In the last minute it seems the theses were not accepted at the Ecole Polytechnique, but only later by the University of Bourgogne. The TV was also not permitted to the actual defense, but several people here saw reports on the Bogdanoff brothers decribing them as outstanding geniuses. The theses and the committee members can be looked up on the web at http://www.ccsd.cnrs.fr/ All the best, -- Max



HOAX THESIS: Abstract in english: We propose in this research a new solution regarding the existence and the content of the initial spacetime singularity. In the context of topological field theory we consider that the initial singularity of space-time corresponds to a zero size singular gravitational instanton characterized by a Riemannian metric configuration (++++) in dimension D = 4. Connected with some unexpected topological data corresponding to the zero scale of space-time, the initial singularity is thus not considered in terms of divergences of physical fields but can be resolved in the frame of topological field theory. We get this result from the physical observation that the pre-spacetime is in a thermal equilibrium at the Planck scale. Therefore it should be subject to the KMS condition. We consequently consider that this KMS state might correspond to a unification between "physical state" (Planck scale) and "topological state" (zero scale). Then it is suggested that the "zero scale singularity" can be understood in terms of topological invariants, in particular the first Donaldson invariant. Therefore, we here introduce a new topological index, connected with 0>> scale, of the form Z = Tr (-1)s, which we call "singularity invariant". Interestingly, this invariant corresponds also to the invariant topological current yield by the hyperfinite II* von Neumann algebra describing the zero scale of space-time. In such a context we conjecture that the problem of inertial interaction might be explained in terms of topological amplitude connected with the singular zero size gravitational instanton corresponding to the initial singularity of spacetime.
Keywords : KMS State, topological field theory, singularity invariant, initial singularity, zero size instanton PACS : 0420D, 04.65.+e, 02.40.Xx, 04.60.-m, 05.45.-a

Update (11/05/02): The Chronicle of Higher Education has a good piece on the 'Reverse-Sokal Hoax' that's been rocking the world of theoretical physics. Unfortunately, you need to be a subscriber to gain access to the article. But the jist of it is that the Bogdanov brothers did not appear to have intentionally been hoaxing the physics community. Instead, they were honestly trying to get PhDs, but did very sloppy work that should never have been accepted.
Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2002.   Comments (0)
Fake Bank Website — British authorities report that con men set up a website designed to look like that of a major British bank. Users of the website lost around $100,000. This seems very similar to a case that occurred in South Africa last month, which I posted here at the time. I wonder if it's the same group of con men?
Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2002.   Comments (4)
Fake Ticker Tape Parade — Yesterday NYC staged a fake ticker tape parade. Bored firemen and policemen marched up and down the same block three times while, according to the NY Post, "drunken office workers shouting like morons to one another" dumped paper on their head. The whole exercise was supposed to persuade the Olympic committee to choose NYC as the site for the Olympics in 2012.
Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2002.   Comments (0)
Blue Peter Chain Letter — Beware the Blue Peter chain letter, should you ever receive it. It's a fake! (for Americans who don't know what Blue Peter is, it's a British tv show for kids). Some fear it may even provide encouragement to pedophiles.
Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2002.   Comments (0)
Henry Raddick, Amazon Reviewer — I recently spent some time reading the Amazon book reviews of Henry Raddick. If you're unfamiliar with this reviewer, you should definitely take the time to acquaint yourself with his work. Rumor has it that Raddick is actually a pseudonym for none other than Prince Charles, a rumor which the Prince vociferously denies. Last year Raddick, or whoever he really is, was involved in a more outright hoax: impersonating Andrew Lloyd Webber on Amazon. Unfortunately, all of Raddick's reviews as Webber have been yanked by Amazon, though the Register has managed to resurrect a few of them.
Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2002.   Comments (0)
WHO Blonde Report — The greatest blonde joke ever!!! The media had been enamored of the story that the World Health Organization had predicted the eventual disappearance of the gene for blond hair because there are so many artificial blondes that they're diluting the gene selection for true blondes. But the WHO had never issued a report saying this. It was all a joke.
Posted: Thu Oct 03, 2002.   Comments (1)
Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2002.   Comments (0)
Kevin Mitnick — Red Herring reviews Kevin Mitnick's new book, The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security, in which he details the art of the con during the internet era.
Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2002.   Comments (0)
Scientific Fraud at Bell Labs — Scientific Fraud at Bell Labs. Jan Hendrik Schon, a nanotechnology hotshot, gets caught falsifying data.
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2002.   Comments (3)
Bush Learns to Read — image This picture of Bush reading a children's book upside down is a fake. Read the explanation here.
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2002.   Comments (0)
The Celebrated Ceramic Toad of Osaka — From the Financial Times, the search for the celebrated ceramic toad of Japan:
Few stories encapsulate the madness that was Japan's economic bubble as neatly as the tale of the most powerful ceramic toad in stock market history. At one point in the late 1980s, this toad controlled a Dollars 20bn portfolio, having received trading tips via messages from the gods. This amphibian George Soros has since disappeared, and its owner, a former bar hostess-turned-restaurant owner, is in jail. But on the basis that the gods might still be sending it messages, the Financial Times travelled to Osaka, Japan's most entrepreneurial city, to try to track down this slippery metaphor for all that went wrong with Japan. The toad was owned by Nui Onoue, herself an extraordinary product of the 1980s. Having started out as a hostess, she invested funds derived from her relations with a powerful construction magnate in a restaurant in Osaka's entertainment area of Sennichimae. It was on the fourth floor of this restaurant, called Egawa, that the toad held court. Mrs Onoue had developed a reputation around the tables of her restaurant for astute stock market purchases and her customers demanded to know her secret. She led them upstairs and showed them the one metre high ceramic toad. She asked them to lay their hands on its head, chanted some mantras, and dispelled the toad's wisdom in the form of stock market tips. If the toad's influence had ended there it would have been little more than a story of unusual reptilian resource. But as word spread she was visited by senior executives from the Industrial Bank of Japan, Nomura Securities, Yamaichi Securities and others. According to Alex Kerr, an author, by 1991, IBJ had lent her Y240bn and 29 other banks and financial institutions had advanced her more than Y2,800bn. Lines of limousines were parked every night outside her restaurant awaiting the toad's pronouncements. Her portfolio collapsed alongside the Nikkei 225 in 1989 and Mrs Onoue was eventually sentenced to 12 years in jail for using fake certificates of deposit as collateral for loans. The chairman of IBJ, one of Japan's most powerful men, was forced to resign as a result of his trust in Mrs Onoue's web-footed friend. But the whereabouts of the toad remain unknown.
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2002.   Comments (0)
Saddam Hussein Doubles — Apparently Saddam Hussein employs many doubles of himself. The men shown below are apparently not the real Hussein. They're his doubles. So will the real Saddam Hussein please stand up?
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Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2002.   Comments (0)
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2002.   Comments (9)
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2002.   Comments (0)
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2002.   Comments (0)
Kew Garden Crop Circle — image Strange crop circle mystery in London's Kew Gardens. A flower-shaped crop circle appeared in a field of wheat that had been specially grown there as part of an exhibit.
Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2002.   Comments (0)
Abduction prank — A high school sociology assignment goes a little too far when students stage a fake abduction.
Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2002.   Comments (0)
John Myatt, forger — image The forger John Myatt has now become respectable and is showing and selling his art in galleries. The works are still forgeries, but now they're openly acknowledged as such, and they're flying off the shelves.
Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2002.   Comments (0)
Email riot — A glitch in Wesleyan's email system sparked an e-mail riot when students realized that they were all plugged into a network that gave them access to the e-mail of every other student at the college.
Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2002.   Comments (0)
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