A well-known scientific researcher accused by his wife of having affairs with three women, fathering an illegitimate child and misappropriating governmental research funds has lost his shot at promotion amid massive online speculation.

The accusations were untrue and invaded his privacy, Duan Zhenhao, the accused researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told the Beijing Times Tuesday.

His wife, a former lawyer, has been posting stories on her blog since June 29, containing detailed information on her husband's infidelity: a house to each of two mistresses, a baby with one, sleeping with a student at his university and helping her with her degree. Her blog received more than 5,000 replies within two days.

"Ninety-nine percent of her posts were made up by herself," he told the Legal Mirror on Monday. One of the "mistresses," was a woman he had hired to do housework and he had sold her one of his houses at a cheaper price rather than give it to her, Duan told the Beijing Times.

As to the other mistress, Duan said he had not cheated with her but rather donated sperm to her in 2004. He filed for divorce at court last week, the newspaper reported.

Duan couldn't be reached by phone for comment Tuesday. They had married in 1987 and lived in the US from 1989 until 2007, when Duan went to work as a director at the academy's institute of geology and geophysics, Duan's wife told the Global Times on condition of anonymity.

Most Web users left replies backing up the wife and dissing Duan, but some noted her timing coincided with Duan being short listed as a candidate for academician this year.

"I have thousands of pictures featuring Duan and his three mistresses to prove I'm telling the truth," the wife told the Global Times, "and there's a lot more I can expose of him when we get in court for divorce."

Duan has been taking money from the academy to pay for his mistresses' train tickets, Cao alleged.

"I can't prove he was using governmental research funds," she said, "but based on his salary he couldn't afford the houses he gave them."

An anonymous office employee at Duan's institute told the Global Times they have sent people to check on Duan's financial status to see whether he had misappropriated research funds.

Duan told the Beijing Times he wouldn't get promoted as academician this year because of the seriousness of his wife's accusations.

Duan's reputation and his right to privacy had been harmed, said Hao Huizhen, a partner at Yingke Law Firm in Beijing, which specializes in marriage and family affairs.

"What [the wife] claimed hasn't been proved true, and even if it is, she shouldn't have posted online details about a person with his real name personal information which led to a public trial of Duan's morals."