The legacy of legendary academic prankster Alan Sokal lives on. In April 1996, the journal Social Text published an article by Sokal, a professor of physics at New York University, that he later revealed to be entirely a joke.
His article was lauded by conservative critics of higher education for its sendup of the progressive political views taking hold in academe. It also raised a host of deep questions about not only the direction of scholarly inquiry but also the integrity of the peer review process.