[Ads-l] French professor accused of gigantic hoax - dubious Gold Medal of Philology

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Website: The Guardian
Article: French professor accused of 'gigantic hoax' after inventing
Nobel-style prize
Author: Kim Willsher in Paris
Date: 7 May 2026

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/07/french-professor-florent-montaclair-accused-award-prize

[Begin excerpt]
Florent Montaclair, then 46, a bespectacled figure in an ill-fitting
suit and rosé-coloured shirt, was receiving the 2016 Gold Medal of
Philology – the study of language in historical contexts – from an
international society of the same name.

Montaclair was the first French recipient of the medal, previously
awarded to the Italian author and academic Umberto Eco, those
attending were told.

It was a glittering event and an impressive achievement – but
unfortunately, detectives claim, the award itself was entirely fake
and part of a complex international hoax worthy of a film script.

Although the ceremony did take place, there was no International
Society of Philology. The American university to which it was
supposedly affiliated existed only online and its address was given as
a business services company in Lewes, Delaware. The award – likened to
a Nobel prize – was invented by Montaclair, and the academic had
bought the medal from a jeweller in Paris for €250 to present to
himself.
[End excerpt]

Garson

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