For me, more interesting "gossip-like" detail that Motl enviously mentions is the "money" Verlinde received. Wikipedia has the details: https://en.wikipedia.or

For me, more interesting "gossip-like" detail that Motl enviously mentions is the "money" Verlinde received. Wikipedia has the details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Verlinde https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Verlinde "In June 2011, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) awarded Verlinde the Spinoza Prize, the highest award available to Dutch scientists including a 2.5 million euro grant for future research.[14] The committee cited his work on the Verlinde formula, the Witten–Dijkgraaf–Verlinde–Verlinde equations, the Cardy-Verlinde formula and entropic gravity as the major achievements leading to the award." By the way, my impression is that reading Motl is not a pleasant experience for anybody but himself.