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UD’s German friend, Christopher, tells her that…

… some people have complained that although when you check in at Lufthansa online “you can choose between Herr/Frau, Dr, Prof, Prof Dr,” you cannot choose Prof Dr Dr.

Prof Dr Dr! A country that loves titles that much is gonna get itself into plagiarism trouble, with everyone scrambling for more Prof Drs. Indeed we’ve already followed Baron Googleberg’s story (it’s still going on). Now another prominent politician, Silvana Koch-Mehrin, is in trouble. Rumor has it the University of Heidelberg is close to taking away her PhD.

This is all moving much faster than Guttenberg’s case did; institutions realize that the people behind this website are finding cases left and right. But the targets of the website’s dissertation-analyses aren’t themselves up to speed. Koch-Mehrin has still made no comment (the story’s been out there for a couple of weeks); like Guttenberg, she’s hoping arrogance and disdain will make it all go away.

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Chris expands on German titles:

Germany is full of politicians who are Prof Dr Dr (sometimes even Prof Dr Dr h.c. mult., to signify that the person holds various honorary doctorates). Another common case is someone who is a medical researcher, as they are often Dr. med. and Dr. rer. nat.). Or people with bi-national degrees. The most prominent, in terms of TV exposure, is Prof. Dr. Dr. Karl Lauterbach, who holds a Dr. med. from the University of Düsseldorf and a D.Sc. from Harvard.

If you like titles, the United States is real shit. We don’t seem to have the same respect for them. I don’t see Donald Trump running off to get a PhD so we’ll call him Prof Dr Dr Trump. And he’s our next president.

We do have Major Major Major Major.

But only Germany has Johann Gambolputty.

Margaret Soltan, May 10, 2011 10:55AM
Posted in: plagiarism

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2 Responses to “UD’s German friend, Christopher, tells her that…”

  1. Quid plura? | “Und das zehnte Wunder zieht an dir vorbei…” Says:

    […] “… some people have complained that although when you check in at Lufthansa online ‘you can choose between Herr/Frau, Dr, Prof, Prof Dr, you cannot choose Prof Dr Dr.’” University Diaries notes another German politician accused of plagiarism. […]

  2. Dr Paul Says:

    At least in Germany the authorities acknowledge one’s qualifications. The Department of Work and Pensions in Britain refuse to acknowledge my three years’ hard work, and refuse to call me anything other than ‘Mr’. What’s the point of doing a PhD when the government’s departments of state refuse to acknowledge it?

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