Dr Guido Menzio, at the age of 40, is one of the world’s leading economists.
On the evening of May 5, as The Washington Post reported, Menzio was suspected of terrorism while on American Airlines Flight 3950 from Philadelphia to Syracuse.
Before take-off, Menzio was scribbling on a notepad he brought along; the macroeconomist was working on a differential equation for his May 6 presentation he was on his way to give at Ontario’s Queen’s University.
His seat neighbor—“a blond-haired, 30-something woman sporting flip-flops and a red tote bag”—found his intense focus on the strange mathematical symbols of the equations suspicious.
During the pre-takeoff preparations, the woman passed a note to the airline crew, informing them that she was feeling ill.
After the plane, which was sitting on the tarmac at the time, returned to the gate, the woman stepped off the plane and informed authorities that she is not really ill, but that she suspects Menzio of terrorism.
