Shashi Tharoor tweets fake university letter to Albert Einstein, caught

New Delhi: Finally, the fake bug has bitten the redoubtable Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, too.

Dr Tharoor on Monday tweeted an image, purported to be a letter from the 'dean of sciences' of University of Bern, dated June 6, 1907, to Albert Einstein saying his application for “the doctorate has not been successful” and as such he is “not eligible for the position of associate professor”.

Dr Tharoor, in his tweet, had an advice for losers, too: "For all those smarting from rejection: those in power today (&in a position to judge you) will not necessarily be proven right tomorrow. And their judgment of you might look downright silly…."

According to www.altnews.com, a website which specialises in exposing fake news, Ajit Ranade, an economist, pointed out within a few minutes of the tweet that Snopes, another fact-checking website had debunked this letter in May 2016.

According to the article by Snopes, Einstein’s initial doctoral application was indeed rejected along with a denial of the position of associate professor by the Unive-rsity. However, the letter is a modern fabrication and not the actual letter sent to Einstein.

Dr Tharoor later said he tweeted it in good faith. “As you say, it might still help people by recalling Einstein's early rejection for a doctorate, even if this letter itself is fake.”