Greece’s Barbie brought down to Earth by doubts over Nasa links
The woman who served as the inspiration for Greece’s first Barbie doll has been accused of falsely claiming she is a leading scientist who has won awards for her work for Nasa.
Eleni Antoniadou, 31, has been described as a specialist in the fields of regenerative medicine, artificial organ bioengineering and space medicine, as well as training astronauts at Nasa, and working as chief executive of Transplants Without Donors, which creates artificial organs.
Cited as a ‘‘Greek scientist of global calibre’’ by national media, her accolades include being named in a Forbes magazine’s 30 under-30 list for healthcare, being voted 2013 Woman of the Year at the annual British FDM Everywoman in Technology Awards, winning the NasaESA Outstanding Researcher Award, and presiding over the European Health Parliament.
Two weeks ago, she was presented with an award for scientific excellence by Niki Kerameus, Greece’s education minister. The organisation that gave out the award said that Kerameus was not involved in her selection.
However, Antoniadou’s career has this week come under heavy scrutiny, with members of the academic community claiming that many of her credentials are false, and that she has never held a position at Nasa.
Antoniadou was announced as one of 20 female role models as part of Barbie’s ‘‘Sheroes’’ series. The women all had dolls made in their likeness to celebrate Barbie’s 60th anniversary in March. Antoniadou said: ‘‘Every step brings us every day closer and closer to achieving our dream ... You can become what you dream of.’’ The website of Mattel, the Barbie manufacturer, says Antoniadou joined Nasa in 2012 as a researcher in various fields.
However, Costas Bouyioukos, an assistant professor of bioinformatics at Paris Diderot University in France, has claimed that she has never worked at Nasa, and only completed the space agency’s Frontier Development Lab, an eightweek educational programme.
In a viral Facebook post, Bouyioukos said: ‘‘She is not even fit to be called a scientist for most people.’’
Mattel did not respond to requests for a comment. Greek Hoaxes, a team committed to debunking fake news, also doubted her claim to have worked on a team that built the first trachea implant to be successfully used on a patient at University College London, when the patient died afterwards.
The Nasa-ESA Outstanding Researcher Award does not appear to exist and Antoniadou’s name does not appear on Nasa’s record of award winners.
On Wednesday, she issued a statement on Facebook saying she was working on a project on artificial intelligence for Nasa.
A spokesman for Nasa said she was not employed by the agency, but it could not rule out the possibility she had worked as a sub-contractor on Nasa projects.
Antoniadou did not respond to requests for comment.