Editing Bogdanov affair (section)

==Aftermath==
===Claims of pseudonymous activity===

One episode after the heyday of the affair involved the participation of an unidentified "Professor Yang".<ref name="distler-bogdanorama" /> Using an e-mail address at the domain ''th-phys.edu.hk'', an individual publishing under this name wrote to a number of individuals and on the Internet to defend the Bogdanov papers. This individual wrote to physicists John Baez, Jacques Distler and Peter Woit; to ''[[The New York Times]]'' journalist Dennis Overbye; and on numerous physics blogs and forums, signing his name "Professor L. Yang—Theoretical Physics Laboratory, International Institute of Mathematical Physics—HKU/Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong." It is the [[Hong Kong University of Science and Technology]] which is located in [[Clear Water Bay]], not [[Hong Kong University]] (HKU), whose main campus is located in the [[Mid-Levels]] of [[Hong Kong Island]].

The Bogdanovs have claimed that the "domain name 'th-phys.edu.hk' was owned by Hong Kong University."<ref name="google-group-2004">{{cite newsgroup| title=What before big bang? |author=Igor/Grichka |date=2004-09-09 |access-date=2019-04-02 |newsgroup=sci.physics.relativity |message-id=92812dc5.0409091502.2594f48d@posting.google.com |url=https://groups.google.fr/group/sci.physics.relativity/msg/5efe659e4869d961 }}</ref> This was not confirmed officially by HKU and no Prof. Yang existed on the roster of the HKU physics department; nor did the university have an "International Institute of Mathematical Physics".<ref name="Baez web">{{Cite web |last= Baez |first= John |author-link= John Baez |date= 22 October 2010 |title= The Bogdanoff Affair |url= http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/bogdanov.html |website= Baez' review of the affair on his webpage at [[University of California, Riverside|math.ucr.edu]] |access-date= 20 January 2014 }}</ref>

Suspicions were consequently raised that Professor L. Yang was actually a pseudonym of the Bogdanovs.<ref name="distler-bogdanorama"/><ref name="Woit2006"/> However, Igor Bogdanov has maintained that Professor Yang is a real mathematical physicist with expertise in [[KMS state|KMS theory]], a friend of his, and that he was posting anonymously from Igor's apartment.<ref name="google-group-2004"/>{{efn|Another oddity noted by Woit in ''Not Even Wrong'' is the website of the "Mathematical Center of Riemannian Cosmology" ([https://web.archive.org/web/20060407175445/http://www.phys-maths.edu.lv/ phys-maths.edu.lv]). Again, this apparent educational institution was registered by Igor Bogdanov.<ref>{{cite web
 |title=NIC.lv DNS information for phys-maths.edu.lv
 |url=http://www.nic.lv/DNS/whois.php?search=phys-maths.edu.lv
 |access-date=2006-12-12
 |url-status=dead
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313132716/http://www.nic.lv/DNS/whois.php?search=phys-maths.edu.lv
 |archive-date=2007-03-13
 }}</ref> When asked about the Center's website, Igor Bogdanov claimed that it had been established and hosted by the [[University of Riga]], after the brothers had attended a conference there in either 2001<ref>{{cite newsgroup
  | title = Séminaires sur la théorie du point zéro des bogdanoff
  | author = Bogdanov, Igor
  | date = 2004-06-30
  | newsgroup = fr.sci.physique
  |message-id= a11529cb.0406301514.6a0a9452@posting.google.com
  | url = https://groups.google.com/group/fr.sci.physique/msg/8a3eda52fb5637f1
  | access-date = 2019-07-21 |language=fr}}</ref> or 2002.<ref>{{cite newsgroup
  | title = Igor & Grichka: Nos Thèses
  | author = Bogdanov, Igor
  | date = 2004-06-21
  | newsgroup = fr.rec.tv.programmes
  |message-id= a11529cb.0406210146.75392426@posting.google.com
  | url = https://groups.google.com/group/fr.rec.tv.programmes/msg/d496e8d5a905dd49
  | access-date = 2019-07-21 |language=fr}}</ref>}}

===''Rayons X'' and ''Avant Le Big Bang''===
{{anchor|pop science criticism}}
In 2002, the Bogdanovs launched a new weekly TV show ''Rayons X'' (''[[X-ray|X Rays]]'') on French public channel [[France 2]]. In August 2004, they presented a 90-minute special cosmology program in which they introduced their theory among other cosmological scenarios. The French mainstream media, in both the press and on the Internet, covered the renewed controversy to some extent; media outlets that reported upon it include ''Acrimed''<ref name="acrimed"/> and ''Ciel et Espace.''<ref name="fosse">{{cite news
  | last = Fossé
  | first = David
  | title = ''La mystification Bogdanov''
  | work = Ciel et Espace
  | pages = 52–55
  | date = October 2004
  | url = http://ybmessager.free.fr/docs/ciel-et-espace-bogda1.pdf
  | access-date = 2019-07-21
  | language = fr
  | archive-date = 2018-09-23
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180923113934/http://ybmessager.free.fr/docs/ciel-et-espace-bogda1.pdf
  | url-status = dead
  }}</ref>

[[Image:Golden Rectangle Construction.svg|thumb|The [[golden ratio]] φ, here shown as the long side of a [[golden rectangle]], is a solution to an [[algebraic equation]] and thus not a [[transcendental number]].]]
In 2004, the Bogdanovs published a commercially successful popular science book, ''Avant Le Big Bang'' (''Before the Big Bang''), based on a simplified version of their theses, where they also presented their point of view about the affair. Both the book and the Bogdanovs' television shows have been criticized for elementary scientific and mathematical inaccuracies. Critics cite examples from ''Avant Le Big Bang'' including a statement that the "[[Golden ratio|golden number]]" [[Phi|φ]] (''phi'') is [[Transcendental number|transcendental]], an assumption that the [[limit of a sequence|limit]] of a decreasing [[sequence]] is always zero, and that the [[Metric expansion of space|expansion of the Universe]] implies that the planets of the [[Solar System]] have grown farther apart.<ref name="acrimed"/>

In October 2004, a journalist from ''Ciel et Espace'' interviewed [[Shahn Majid]] of [[Queen Mary, University of London]] about his report on Grichka Bogdanov's thesis. Majid said that the French version of his report on Grichka's thesis was "an unauthorized translation partially invented by the Bogdanovs." In one sentence, the English word "interesting" was translated as the French "''important''". A "draft [mathematical] construction" became "''la première construction [mathématique]''" ("the first [mathematical] construction"). Elsewhere, an added word demonstrated, according to Majid, that "Bogdanov does not understand his own draft results." Majid also described more than ten other modifications of meaning, each one biased towards "''surestimation outrancière''"—"outrageous over-estimation". Majid said that his original report described a "very weak" student who nevertheless demonstrated "an impressive amount of determination to obtain a doctorate."<ref name="fosse"/> Later, Majid claimed in a Usenet post that, in an addendum to ''Avant Le Big Bang,'' Grichka intentionally misquoted Majid's opinion on the way this interview had been transcribed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://groups.google.com/g/fr.sci.physique/c/uQdhtoiIKRA/m/B6VWIAnMcjYJ?hl=en |title=Bogdanovs |first=Shahn |last=Majid |website=Google Groups |date=2004-09-30 |access-date=2024-06-20}}</ref>

{{anchor|Schreiber comment}}
Additionally, in the same addendum, a critical analysis of their work made by Urs Schreiber, and affirmed by the Bogdanovs as "very accurate", was included with the exception of the concluding remark "Just to make sure: I do not think that any of the above is valid reasoning", thus inverting the meaning from criticism into ostensible support.<ref name="schreiber"/> Moreover, a comment by physicist Peter Woit written as, "It's certainly possible that you have some new worthwhile results on [[quantum group]]s", was translated as "''Il est tout à fait certain que vous avez obtenu des résultats nouveaux et utiles dans les groupes quantiques''" ("It is completely certain that you have obtained new and useful results on quantum groups") and published by the Bogdanovs in the addendum of their book.<ref name="fosse"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/blog/archives/000034.html |title=Bogdanovs Redux |last=Woit |first=Peter |website=Not Even Wrong |date=2004-06-05 |access-date=2019-07-21}}</ref>

===Disputes on French and English Wikipedias===

At the beginning of 2004, Igor Bogdanov began to post on French Usenet physics groups and Internet forums, continuing the pattern of behavior seen on ''sci.physics.research.'' A controversy began on the [[French Wikipedia]] when Igor Bogdanov and his supporters began to edit that encyclopedia's [[:fr:Igor et Grichka Bogdanoff|article on the brothers]], prompting the creation of a new article dedicated to the debate (''[[:fr:Polémique autour des travaux des frères Bogdanoff|Polémique autour des travaux des frères Bogdanov]]''—"Debate surrounding the work of the Bogdanov brothers"). The dispute then spread to the [[English Wikipedia]].<ref>{{cite news | last=Latrive | first=Florent |author2=Mauriac, Laurent | title=Dans les rouages de Wikipedia | work=Libération | pages=42–43 | date=2006-02-27 | url=http://www.liberation.fr/grand-angle/010140270-dans-les-rouages-de-wikipedia | access-date=2019-07-21|language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | last=Lapirot | first=Olivier | title=Peut-on se fier à Wikipédia? | work=Micro Hebdo | pages=28 | date=2006-06-22 | url=http://www.01net.com/article/321982_a.html | language=fr | access-date=2009-07-17 | archive-date=2006-07-19 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060719144050/http://www.01net.com/article/321982_a.html | url-status=dead }}</ref> In November 2005, this led the [[Arbitration Committee (Wikipedia)|Arbitration Committee]], a [[dispute resolution]] panel that acts as the project's [[court of last resort]], to ban anyone deemed to be a participant in the external dispute from editing the English Wikipedia's article on the Bogdanov Affair. A number of English Wikipedia users, including Igor Bogdanov himself, were explicitly named in this ban.<ref>{{cite web
| title=Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Regarding the Bogdanov Affair| url =http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Regarding_The_Bogdanov_Affair&oldid=73602269| date = 2006-09-03| access-date = 2018-11-21}}</ref> In 2006, Baez wrote on his website that for some time the Bogdanovs and "a large crowd of [[sock puppet (internet)|sock puppets]]" had been attempting to rewrite the English Wikipedia article on the controversy "to make it less embarrassing to them". "Nobody seems to be fooled", he added.<ref name = "Baez web"/>

===Lawsuits===
In December 2004, the Bogdanovs sued ''Ciel et Espace'' for [[defamation]] over the publication of a critical article entitled "The Mystification of the Bogdanovs".<ref name = "Baez web"/> In September 2006, the case was dismissed after the Bogdanovs missed court deadlines; they were ordered to pay 2,500 [[euro]]s to the magazine's publisher to cover its legal costs.<ref name="ciel-et-espace-judgment">{{cite news
 |title=''Les frères Bogdanov condamnés''
 |work=Ciel et Espace
 |date=October 2006
 |url=http://www.cieletespace.fr/Actualites/488_les,freres,bogdanov,condamnes.aspx
 |access-date=2006-10-07
 |language=fr
 |url-status=dead
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061117165918/http://www.cieletespace.fr/Actualites/488_les%2Cfreres%2Cbogdanov%2Ccondamnes.aspx
 |archive-date=2006-11-17
 }}</ref><ref name="obs">{{cite web|url=https://www.nouvelobs.com/medias/20061014.OBS0182/fin-du-litige-avec-ciel-et-espace.html|title=Fin du litige avec ''Ciel et Espace''|website=[[L'Obs]]|date=2006-10-14|access-date=2018-02-25|language=fr}}</ref> There was never a substantive ruling on whether the Bogdanovs had been defamed.<ref name="obs" />

{{anchor|Criminal prosecution of Alain Riazuelo}}
Alain Riazuelo, an [[Astrophysics|astrophysicist]] at the [[Institut d'astrophysique de Paris]], participated in many of the online discussions of the Bogdanovs' work. He posted an unpublished version of Grichka Bogdanov's PhD thesis on his personal website, along with his critical analysis. Bogdanov subsequently described this version as "dating from 1991 and too unfinished to be made public". Rather than suing Riazuelo for [[defamation]], Bogdanov filed a criminal complaint of [[copyright]] (''droit d'auteur'') violation against him in May 2011. The police detained and interrogated Riazuelo. He came to trial and was convicted in March 2012. A fine of 2,000 euros the court imposed was suspended, and only one euro of damages was awarded.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://sciences.blogs.liberation.fr/2012/03/15/un-curieux-jugement-pour-les-jumeaux-bogdanov/ |title=Un curieux jugement pour les frères Bogdanov |last=Huet |first=Sylvestre |website=[[Libération]] |date=2012-03-15 |access-date=2019-07-12 |language=fr |archive-date=2019-07-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190712152828/http://sciences.blogs.liberation.fr/2012/03/15/un-curieux-jugement-pour-les-jumeaux-bogdanov/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> But in passing judgement the court stated that the scientist had "lacked prudence", given "the fame of the plaintiff".<ref name=Foucart2012>{{cite news |last=Foucart |first=Stéphane |title=Les chercheurs et la menace Bogdanov (Researchers and the Bogdanov threat) |language=fr |url=http://www.lemonde.fr/sciences/article/2012/04/20/les-chercheurs-et-la-menace-bogdanov_1688106_1650684.html |newspaper=[[Le Monde]] |date= 20 April 2012}}</ref>

The verdict outraged many scientists, who felt that the police and courts should have no say in a discussion of the scientific merits of a piece of work. In April 2012, a group of 170 scientists published an open letter titled ''L'affaire Bogdanoff: Liberté, Science et Justice, Des scientifiques revendiquent leur droit au blâme'' (''The Bogdanov Affair: Liberty, Science and Justice, scientists claim their right of critique'').<ref name=NouvObsApril2012>{{cite journal |title=Frères Bogdanov: 170 scientifiques réclament le droit de les critiquer |trans-title=Bogdanov brothers: 170 scientists claim the right of critique |url=http://rue89.nouvelobs.com/2012/04/26/freres-bogdanov-170-scientifiques-reclament-le-droit-de-les-critiquer-231613 |journal=[[Le Nouvel Observateur]] |language=fr |date=26 April 2012}}</ref>

In 2014, the Bogdanovs sued the weekly magazine ''[[Marianne (magazine)|Marianne]]'' for defamation, on account of reporting the magazine had published in 2010<ref name="marianne"/> which had brought the CNRS report to light. The weekly was eventually ordered to pay 64,000 euros in damages, a quantity less than the Bogdanovs had originally demanded (in excess of 800,000 euros each).<ref name="lepoint2014">{{cite web|url=https://www.lepoint.fr/medias/les-freres-bogdanoff-font-condamner-marianne-20-05-2014-1826187_260.php |title=Les frères Bogdanov font condamner "Marianne" |website=[[Le Point]] |language=fr |date=2014-05-21 |access-date=2019-07-21}}</ref> The Bogdanovs also sued the CNRS for 1.2 million euros in damages, claiming that the CNRS report had "''porté atteinte à leur honneur, à leur réputation et à leur crédit''" ("undermined their honor, reputation and credit") and calling the report committee a "''Stasi scientifique''", but a tribunal ruled against them in 2015 and ordered them to pay 2,000 euros.<ref name="lexpress2015"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2018/06/27/igor-et-grichka-bogdanov-quarante-ans-d-affaires-et-de-succes-populaires_5321914_3224.html |title=Igor et Grichka Bogdanov, 40 ans d'affaires et de succès populaires |last=Auffret |first=Simon |language=fr |work=[[Le Monde]] |date=2018-06-27 |access-date=2019-07-22}}</ref>

===Megatrend University===
In 2005, the Bogdanovs became professors at [[Megatrend University]] in [[Belgrade]] where they were appointed Chairs of Cosmology and said to direct the Megatrend Laboratory of Cosmology.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.megatrend.edu.rs/profesori.php?bs%3Dgrichka_bogdanoff%26language%3D1 |title=Prof. Grichka Bogdanoff, PhD & Prof. Igor Bogdanoff, PhD |access-date=2018-02-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714205449/http://www.megatrend.edu.rs/profesori.php?bs=grichka_bogdanoff&language=1 |archive-date=2014-07-14 |website=[[Megatrend University]]}}</ref><ref name="politika">{{cite web|url=http://www.politika.rs/scc/clanak/295992/Kako-je-Mica-rektor-postao-kosmolog|script-title=sr:Како је Мића ректор постао космолог|first=Ана|last=Оташевић|website=politika.rs|date=2014-06-10|access-date=2018-02-27|language=sr}}</ref> [[Mića Jovanović]], the [[rector (academia)|rector]] and owner of Megatrend University, wrote a preface for the [[Serbian language|Serbian]] edition of ''Avant le Big Bang.''<ref name="politika"/> Jovanović later became embroiled in controversy and resigned his post when it was revealed that he had not obtained a PhD at the [[London School of Economics]] as he had claimed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-serbia-education-fraud/the-minister-his-mentor-and-the-fight-against-a-suspect-system-in-serbia-idUKKBN0EY1EV20140623|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171124124556/https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-serbia-education-fraud/the-minister-his-mentor-and-the-fight-against-a-suspect-system-in-serbia-idUKKBN0EY1EV20140623|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 24, 2017|title=The minister, his mentor and the fight against a suspect system in Serbia|last=Robinson|first=Matt|date=2014-06-23|access-date=2018-02-27|website=[[Reuters]]}}</ref> This scandal, combined with the presence of the Bogdanovs, contributed to an atmosphere of controversy surrounding Megatrend.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/bogus-academic-claims-tarnish-serbias-ivory-tower-035622394.html|title=Bogus academic claims tarnish Serbia's ivory tower|website=[[Yahoo! News]]|publisher=[[Agence France-Presse]]|date=2014-06-26|access-date=2018-02-27|last=Subasic|first=Katarina}}</ref>

===''L'équation Bogdanov''===
In 2008, {{ill|Presses de la Renaissance|fr}} published ''L'équation Bogdanov: le secret de l'origine de l'univers?'' (''The Bogdanov Equation: The Secret of the Origin of the Universe?''), officially written in English by Luboš Motl and translated into French.<ref>{{cite book|title=L'équation Bogdanov : le secret de l'origine de l'univers? |language=fr |last=Motl |first=Luboš |author-link=Luboš Motl |year=2008 |publisher=Presses de la Renaissance |oclc=470634660 |isbn=9782750903862}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=3594 |title=The Bogdanov Equation |date=2011-04-03 |last=Woit |first=Peter |website=Not Even Wrong |access-date=2019-07-21}}</ref> A review in ''[[Science et Vie]]'' found that the book was light on detail and never actually said what the "Bogdanov equation" is: "''Et arrivé à la conclusion, on n'est même plus très certain qu'elle existe réellement''" ("Arriving at the conclusion, one is no longer even very certain that it really exists").<ref name="grousson">{{cite news|first=Mathieu |last=Grousson |work=Science et Vie |date=August 2008 |pages=126–127 |title=L'équation Bogdanov |url=http://mondedurable.science-et-vie.com/science-vie-et-lequation-bogdanov/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080807003559/http://mondedurable.science-et-vie.com/science-vie-et-lequation-bogdanov/ |archive-date=2008-08-07}}</ref><ref name="marianne">{{cite news|last=Gathié |first=Nathalie |work=[[Marianne (magazine)|Marianne]] |title=Le vrai visage des Bogdanoff |date=16 October 2010 |language=fr |volume=74 |page=62}}</ref>