On Sunday, Spain’s El Pais reported that Rafael Luque, who’s managed the incredible feat of publishing 58 studies so far this year at an average of one per 37 hours, was officially sanctioned by the University of Córdoba in Spain.
The university has justified its 13-year sentence for Luque’s full-time gig at the Spanish institution by pointing to the researcher’s work for the King Saud University in Riyadh and the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia in Moscow.
According to El Pais, "institutions all over the world compete to hire scientists like Luque, who can move a center up hundreds of positions in international academic rankings such as the influential Shanghai ranking, thusly attracting more students and more funding."
The researcher – who was highlighted by the German Ministry of Research in 2011 and has racked up awards from institutions including the prestigious UK Royal Society of Chemistry – didn’t hold back when asked for comment.
"Without me, the University of Córdoba is going to drop 300 places [in the Shanghai ranking]," the Spanish outlet quoted Luque as saying.
The university’s functionaries have "shot themselves in the foot,” the renowned scientist explained.
But not every interaction between scientists has been tainted by the political tensions that now characterize so much of the public conversation between official voices in Washington and Moscow.
As Sputnik News reported earlier this week, researchers at NASA have no intentions of ceasing their cooperation with their Russian counterparts and plan to continue cooperation with Roscosmos in the "long-term."
Despite the Biden administration’s ongoing proxy war against Russia, NASA astronaut Warren Hoburg said he and his Russian colleagues have managed to maintain an "amazing" relationship.
"Even in the hardest of times… the cooperation is honestly amazing to see," Hoburg explained to journalist Lenka White.
"The mission control here in Houston works on a daily basis with the Mission Control in Moscow," explained the astronaut, who noted he’d "loved [his] time training with [his]Cosmonaut crewmate."