[4] The crowdsourced Russian internet subculture encyclopedia Lurkmore defined the term as "a synonym for researchers working on pseudoscientific projects that are bonkers, idiotic and have absolutely no practical value".
[1] James Harkin wrote: "When they hear the phrase 'British scientists', Russians don't tend to think of Newton, Darwin or Faraday; nor do they think of Stephen Hawking or Peter Higgs.
[6][7][1] Typical news about "Британские учёные" [Britanskiye uchyonyye, "British scientists"] report that they:[2] Lurkmore writes that the meme started proliferating somewhere in 2003–2004 and attributes its spreading to a Pleshner, a user of dirty.ru who had made multiple posts all over runet.
[8] For this reason Krongauz considers "British scientists" to be a special type of media virus, which not only thrives in reality but also slightly modifies it.
[9] The founder of the Ig Nobel Prize, Marc Abrahams suggested to BBC News Russian that there is a rationale under the meme, which lies in a trait of British character: positive attitude to eccentricity.