A Chinese physics institute's defense.

Abstract

“Show me the money” (M. Hvistendahl, News Feature, 24 October 2014, p.[411][1]) contains numerous false allegations, misinterpretations, and bias, which we must address. Leonhardt claims he was unaware of the grant application contents. However, Leonhardt had a chance to revise a draft of the slides for the Guangdong Leading Talent Project and presented the slides to the committee. They detail the projects on transformation optics-based super-resolution imaging, cloaking, and absorbers for which funding was sought. Thus, Leonhardt should have been aware of the contents of the grant application. Casimir forces are briefly mentioned in the Thousand Talents application because Leonhardt provided his Casimir force work ([ 1 ][2]) in a package of his selected papers when he asked the Centre for Optical and Electromagnetic Research (COER) to prepare the application for him. At that time no COER member worked on Casimir forces. Leonhardt claims he did not suggest Casimir forces until one year after August 2011, whereas the article claims that “Leonhardt planned to work on the theory of Casimir forces,” which is self-contradictory. The document provided to Science by Professor Jun Li explicitly connects the team slide (including potential collaborators) pictured in the article to the research directions of the Leading Talent defense, which did not include the Casimir force. Our finances have been strictly in accordance with the approved budget and grant regulations. 790,043 RMB ($128,462) was spent on research equipment; 208,920 RMB ($33,971) was spent on travel for Leonhardt, his partner Jana Silberg, and their invited guests; and the unused 4,001,037 RMB ($650,575) was returned to the grant authority. Normal salary is taxed and transferable abroad, whereas tax-free subsidies are intended to be used in China. Leonhardt made several unsuccessful attempts to transfer subsidy money abroad while in Guangzhou from 12 to 18 January 2013. On 28 January 2013, Leonhardt e-mailed to COER, “Concerning Jana's payment, please arrange for a regular salary and give me the account number where I can return the 0.5M.” This return would not have affected the net income Leonhardt would have received if he completed his 5-year contract. This 500,000 RMB ($81,301) remains frozen in a South China Normal University (SCNU) bank account awaiting government instruction. 1,566,667 RMB ($254,743) in pre-tax salary and housing subsidy remains in Leonhardt's possession, and he shows no intention of returning any of it. Since Leonhardt was in mainland China for only 57 days while under contract and did not fulfill the contract's terms, SCNU is taking legal action to recover a substantial portion of this money. While we appreciate the over 20 changes, the modified article online still misrepresents our center's voice, most notably Professor Sailing He's quotes. They are out of context and based on the journalist's notes, which He did not have a chance to review and sign. When He said that Leonhardt “doesn't need to care about the details,” he was referring to whether the income was categorized as subsidies or salary. As noted in the article, Leonhardt has waged a campaign through many Chinese agencies to defame COER. No Chinese agency has responded, because COER did nothing wrong and Leonhardt's allegations are groundless. Chinese culture values trust between people. Unfortunately, Leonhardt betrayed our trust. We have learned some hard lessons and proposed reforms to related government agencies. SCNU has always strictly implemented relevant provisions of the national Thousand Talents Program and Guangdong Leading Talent Project, accepted supervision from upper-level departments, and thanks the community for support. SCNU will continue to improve management and service, and always welcome highly talented individuals who actively promote teaching and research development at the University. 1. [↵][3] 1. U. Leonhardt, 2. T. G. Philbin , New J. Phys. 9, 254 (2007). [OpenUrl][4][CrossRef][5] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.346.6208.411 [2]: #ref-1 [3]: #xref-ref-1-1 View reference 1 in text [4]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DNew%2BJ.%2BPhys.%26rft.volume%253D9%26rft.spage%253D254%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.1088%252F1367-2630%252F9%252F8%252F254%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [5]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=10.1088/1367-2630/9/8/254&link_type=DOI