Finnish University Says It Won't Hire Harasser, After All

The University of Turku in Finland announced Wednesday that it had canceled its employment contract with theoretical astrophysicist Christian Ott, days after the university defended its decision to hire Ott despite his history of sexual harassment. Ott resigned from his professorship at the California Institute of Technology last year after the university found he'd harassed two graduate students. He was scheduled to begin work as a senior researcher without teaching or supervising duties at Turku next month. Rector Kalervo Väänänen said that Turku had backed out of the contract after “extensively hearing the science community.” Ott could not immediately be reached for comment.