Florent Montaclair, who taught in the eastern French city of Besançon for around two decades, had publicly claimed he won a prestigious “Gold Medal of Philology” in 2016.
It was an award for which Montaclair had admittedly purchased a medal from a jeweller shortly before the Paris ceremony, French newspaper Le Monde reported.
Montaclair, who also created “International Society of Philology” as the organisation behind the prize, awarded one to American linguist Noam Chomsky as well.
The matter has led to Montaclair’s suspension from his position at the university, though the professor denied any wrongdoing and told investigators that creating a new academic distinction was not illegal.
The story reportedly started gaining attention in 2015 after local media reported that Montaclair had advanced to the final stage of an internationally recognised prize similar to the Nobel.
This was followed by reports claiming he was named a winner of this non-existent award a few months later.
The following year, a ceremony was held in Paris where he formally received the medal with politicians, academics, and several high-profile guests in attendance.
Doubts over the organisation’s credibility surfaced when Montaclair announced Romanian scholar Eugen Simion as the next winner and journalists flagged inconsistencies as they dug deeper into the organisation’s background.
On its website, several famous names, including Italian author Umberto Eco, were featured as previous recipients.
But this is not the first time Montaclair has risked forgery. Authorities also found his doctorate was from a nonexistent American institution named the “University of Philology and Education” in Delaware.
But the matter still remained mostly unnoticed for years in his home country, France till it resurfaced recently during preparations for an event on fake news that Montaclair was expected to moderate.
Prosecutors are now examining whether the fake award helped Montaclair’s career in any way. If investigators cannot prove that he gained professionally from it, it may be difficult to establish that any crime was committed.
