Editing Bogdanov affair (section)

===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>}}