Epstein scandal: mathematician Nowak resigns from ÖAW membership

The matter got rolling after new information became known following the publication of millions of Epstein files by the US Department of Justice. The ÖAW then set up an ethics committee that was supposed to review the allegations based on the publicly available information and a hearing and make a recommendation by mid-April. According to the ÖAW, the committee was close to completing its investigation. The ÖAW “notes” Nowak’s resignation, which, according to the academy’s rules of procedure, becomes final after ten days.

Frequent personal contacts with Epstein

Nowak had frequent personal contacts with the New York multimillionaire, who gave him generous donations for his research and also mentioned him in his will. Epstein, who died in custody in 2019, is said to have sexually abused numerous young women, including minors, and in some cases passed them on to acquaintances. He had established an extensive international network and had regular contact with numerous prominent people from politics, business and science.

No exclusion since the post-war period

According to the ÖAW, there has been no case of a member being excluded since the post-war period. The decision should be made immediately after the ethics committee’s recommendation is made in April. According to the ÖAW statutes, “the entire meeting, with the presence of two-thirds of the total number of actual members specified in Section 6 Paragraph 1 lit.

The membership of Nowak’s doctoral supervisor, the mathematician, is still being checked Karl Sigmundwho requested the ÖAW to review the matter on its own initiative. The ORF reported on a meeting between Epstein and Sigmund in September 2018 in New York and in March 2019 in Vienna. Opposite ORF knowledge Sigmund stated that he met Epstein because he “wanted to get a personal picture.”

Harvard is testing for the second time

Martin Nowak’s close ties to Epstein were the subject of investigations several years ago by the elite US university Harvard, where the Austrian has worked for over 20 years. In 2021, he was also responsible for the US science system, which is focused on patronage unusually strong personal ties to Epstein Conditions were issued, which were then lifted again in 2023.

The US elite university said that the Epstein files published by the US Department of Justice in recent months had revealed new information about the biomathematician, prompting a formal internal investigation. It should clarify whether Nowak violated the university’s requirements and standards. In previous media reports, Nowak had always emphasized that he had been pressured by the university to obtain Epstein money for academic ventures.