Hungary's president has doctorate rescinded

The Austrian newspaper Der Standard reports that the Hungarian president, Pál Schmitt, has had his doctorate, which was awarded in 1992, rescinded. The Semmelweis Medical University in Budapest voted 16:2 for rescinding the doctorate that was granted on the basis of a thesis about the history of the Olympic momement. Schmitt was himself an Olympic fenceman and a member of the Olympic committee of Hungary.

The thesis plagiarizes the thesis of a Bulgarian sports researcher and member of the IOC as well as texts from a German sociologist. The original texts were in French and German, Schmitt only translated them without referring to them. A journalist from the weekly magazine HVG found the plagiarism.

Update: 2012-04-02 The Süddeutsche Zeitung reports that Schmitt has bowed to pressure and stepped down as president of Hungary.