The well-known corona researcher Niki Popper could have plagiarized not only his graduation thesis, but also his dissertation. At least that’s what the “plagiarism hunter” Stefan Weber accuses him of. Popper responded on Twitter that his work was original.
In detail, in the thesis titled “Comparative Modeling and Simulation – A Concept for Modular Modeling and Hybrid Simulation of Complex Systems”, Weber seeks third-party plagiarism from a Wikipedia article, from a thesis six months older, and from a specialist paper nine years older is authors have established.
Thesis submitted in 2015
Popper submitted his dissertation to the Vienna University of Technology (TU) in May 2015 and the new provisions on plagiarism in the University Law came into force in January 2015. That is why “the work should never have been accepted”, according to the communication scientist Weber. Scientists from mathematics and computer science would apparently “need clearer citation rules – like the Austrian jurists”.
“Try to be a reasonably pleasant person”
Popper countered on Twitter that his work was good and original. “I try to do my job to the best of my knowledge and belief, I learn something new every day and try to be a reasonably pleasant human being. If I’ve done something wrong I’ll burn in hell – maybe Stefan Weber won’t be far with me then away,” he wrote, adding a winking smiley to the caption. Weber may have motives other than simply improving science. The thread states that he finds it difficult that he appears to be a police officer, prosecutor and judge rolled into one.
Diploma thesis also in sight
As reported, a few days ago Weber accused Popper of plagiarizing his senior thesis (2001). Here, the simulation researcher already admitted to having taken passages “without thinking”, for example from physiology textbooks. The work was also written at the Vienna University of Technology.
To the people
Nikolas Popper, known as Niki Popper, studied mathematics and worked as a science editor and journalist. He currently works as a simulation researcher, university lecturer and entrepreneur. He became nationally known for his computer models of the Covid 19 pandemic.
Stefan Weber studied journalism and communication science at the University of Salzburg. He works as a communication scientist and publicist. In the past, he has made allegations of plagiarism against several politicians, such as then-Science Minister Johannes Hahn (ÖVP), then-Labor Minister Christine Aschbacher (ÖVP) and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
Source: Krone
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