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A Nobel laureate has resigned from his position as honorary professor at a UK university after he made comments about the "trouble with girls" in science.
University College London (UCL) said Sir Tim Hunt - a Royal Society fellow - had resigned from his position within its faculty of life sciences.
He told a conference that women in labs "cry" when criticised and "fall in love" with male counterparts.
Sir Tim, 72 - who was awarded the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine in 2001 for his work on how cells divide - reportedly told the conference in South Korea: "Let me tell you about my trouble with girls.
"Three things happen when they are in the lab:
you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticise them they cry."
What did he say that was Not Factual?,
its the P.C. Brigade again
Population of UK Females Single, Divorced, Separated and Widowed is approx 20,000,000 (20 Million)
Of which 500,000 admit to being Gay, Lesbian and Other.
Most of the others are looking for a Man
University College London (UCL) said Sir Tim Hunt - a Royal Society fellow - had resigned from his position within its faculty of life sciences.
He told a conference that women in labs "cry" when criticised and "fall in love" with male counterparts.
Sir Tim, 72 - who was awarded the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine in 2001 for his work on how cells divide - reportedly told the conference in South Korea: "Let me tell you about my trouble with girls.
"Three things happen when they are in the lab:
you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticise them they cry."
What did he say that was Not Factual?,
its the P.C. Brigade again
Population of UK Females Single, Divorced, Separated and Widowed is approx 20,000,000 (20 Million)
Of which 500,000 admit to being Gay, Lesbian and Other.
Most of the others are looking for a Man
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Speaking afterwards, Sir Tim insisted his remarks were intended in a light-hearted way.
"I did mean the part about having trouble with girls. It is true that people - I have fallen in love with people in the lab and people in the lab have fallen in love with me and it's very disruptive to the science because it's terribly important that in a lab people are on a level playing field.
"I found that these emotional entanglements made life very difficult.
"I'm really, really sorry I caused any offence, that's awful. I certainly didn't mean that. I just meant to be honest, actually."
Defending his remarks, he added: "It's terribly important that you can criticise people's ideas without criticising them and if they burst into tears, it means that you tend to hold back from getting at the absolute truth.
"Science is about nothing but getting at the truth and anything that gets in the way of that diminishes, in my experience, the science."
Sir Tim reportedly described himself as a "chauvinist pig" and argued in favour of single-sex laboratories at the talk in South Korea.
Connie St Louis, a lecturer in science journalism at City University, who was in the audience at the time, said the experience was "awful", and the scientist's comments had been greeted with silence.
"A lot of my colleagues sat down and were taking notes because they couldn't believe in this day and age that somebody would be prepared to stand up and be so crass, so rude in a different culture and actually to be so openly sexist as well."
"I did mean the part about having trouble with girls. It is true that people - I have fallen in love with people in the lab and people in the lab have fallen in love with me and it's very disruptive to the science because it's terribly important that in a lab people are on a level playing field.
"I found that these emotional entanglements made life very difficult.
"I'm really, really sorry I caused any offence, that's awful. I certainly didn't mean that. I just meant to be honest, actually."
Defending his remarks, he added: "It's terribly important that you can criticise people's ideas without criticising them and if they burst into tears, it means that you tend to hold back from getting at the absolute truth.
"Science is about nothing but getting at the truth and anything that gets in the way of that diminishes, in my experience, the science."
Sir Tim reportedly described himself as a "chauvinist pig" and argued in favour of single-sex laboratories at the talk in South Korea.
Connie St Louis, a lecturer in science journalism at City University, who was in the audience at the time, said the experience was "awful", and the scientist's comments had been greeted with silence.
"A lot of my colleagues sat down and were taking notes because they couldn't believe in this day and age that somebody would be prepared to stand up and be so crass, so rude in a different culture and actually to be so openly sexist as well."
Whatever he got his Nobel Prize for, it wasn't common sense.
A lab is no different to any other place of work. No need to segregate the sexes there or anywhere else.
Top 10 sexiest female scientists ,Posted on Thu, Jul 26, 2012,
http://cltampa.com/dailyloaf/archives/2012/07/26/top-10-sexiest-female-scientists#.VXsyIo1wZ2E[ This image is no longer available. ]
http://cltampa.com/dailyloaf/archives/2012/07/26/top-10-sexiest-female-scientists#.VXsyIo1wZ2E[ This image is no longer available. ]
...entury chronicles - no doubt I'll be accused of sporting the rose-tinted spectacles but life used to be so much better years ago
If you’re thinking of making an off-colour joke in modern Britain you’d be better off joining ISIS writes Douglas Murray in the Spectator.
The point he makes is a good one. Whenever some idiot gets it into their head that it’s the right and proper thing to do to go and join an Islamist death cult in Somalia, Syria or Iraq – fully aware of the brutality that this will entail and of the innocents they may well be required hideously and ruthlessly to murder – we are expected to indulge them as hapless, brainwashed victims: nice, warm, caring, wouldn’t-hurt-a-fly types who were just led astray.
When, on the other hand, you’re a Nobel-prize-winning professor and you happen to venture a very mildly risque aside – what used to be known as a “joke” – at a science conference, the only culturally acceptable response, apparently, is instant career death.
To give you a flavour of the Taliban-like zeal with which the righteous are justifying the hounding of Professor Tim Hunt, here is a charming blog post from one of his fellow scientists.
Chris Chambers is a psychologist and neuroscientist at the School of Psychology at Cardiff University, Wales. Here are some of his considered views:
1 – Hunt’s comments were unacceptable and stupid. He has yet to offer a full apology, which just shows how little recognition he has of sexism in science. Oh but he’s old, right, so that’s ok? **** that. My dad is the same age as Hunt, has one less Nobel prize, grew up in 1950s Australia (AKA Betty Crocker Central) and could teach him a thing or two about equality.
2 – the prompted resignations from UCL, Royal Society, and the ERC were appropriate. Some have criticised them for being too quick. Bullshit. They were fast because the case was clear. They did the right thing and I applaud them.
3 – there has been no witch hunt, no lynch mob, no burnings or beheadings. Just people, including lots of women scientists, expressing their displeasure with Tim Hunt’s comments on social media. And often with great humour.
4 – I am deeply disappointed by some of the defences of Hunt emerging from various Establishment figures, publicly and in private. A lot of these defences are being expressed behind the scenes and consist of “He’s a nice guy; he has no media training and was lost at sea; I’ve never seen any evidence of him behaving in a sexist manner so everything is fine”. Many of these people are sending these messages in the hope that the recipients will use their influence to defend him on their behalf. Stop it. If you want to defend Tim Hunt, at least have the spine to do it yourself.
5 – To those calling for more evidence of wrongdoing before “condemning” Hunt, just stop. The comments are evidence enough that he is not fit to hold ambassadorial roles in science. Being a great scientist does not justify being a purveyor of 1950s sexism.
Cheery Chris goes on to offer a range of solutions to the terrible problem of rampant sexism in the world of science.
Call out teachers who tell girls they can’t/shouldn’t do maths, physics etc;
Don’t let the bold (male or female) monopolise the conversation in the classroom or the apparatus in the laboratory, at the expense of the timid (female or male);
Nominate women for prizes, fellowships etc;
Tap women on the shoulder to encourage them to apply for opportunities they otherwise would be unaware of or feel they were not qualified for;
Sounds like a form of harrassment to me, this tapping innocent women on the shoulder and driving them like cattle towards careers to which they may be unsuited and which could ultimately cause them much needless unhappiness.
Really, a man as zealous as Chris seems far too high-minded to be wasted in Cardiff.
Are there any openings, you wonder, in the School of Psychology at the University of Raqqa?
The point he makes is a good one. Whenever some idiot gets it into their head that it’s the right and proper thing to do to go and join an Islamist death cult in Somalia, Syria or Iraq – fully aware of the brutality that this will entail and of the innocents they may well be required hideously and ruthlessly to murder – we are expected to indulge them as hapless, brainwashed victims: nice, warm, caring, wouldn’t-hurt-a-fly types who were just led astray.
When, on the other hand, you’re a Nobel-prize-winning professor and you happen to venture a very mildly risque aside – what used to be known as a “joke” – at a science conference, the only culturally acceptable response, apparently, is instant career death.
To give you a flavour of the Taliban-like zeal with which the righteous are justifying the hounding of Professor Tim Hunt, here is a charming blog post from one of his fellow scientists.
Chris Chambers is a psychologist and neuroscientist at the School of Psychology at Cardiff University, Wales. Here are some of his considered views:
1 – Hunt’s comments were unacceptable and stupid. He has yet to offer a full apology, which just shows how little recognition he has of sexism in science. Oh but he’s old, right, so that’s ok? **** that. My dad is the same age as Hunt, has one less Nobel prize, grew up in 1950s Australia (AKA Betty Crocker Central) and could teach him a thing or two about equality.
2 – the prompted resignations from UCL, Royal Society, and the ERC were appropriate. Some have criticised them for being too quick. Bullshit. They were fast because the case was clear. They did the right thing and I applaud them.
3 – there has been no witch hunt, no lynch mob, no burnings or beheadings. Just people, including lots of women scientists, expressing their displeasure with Tim Hunt’s comments on social media. And often with great humour.
4 – I am deeply disappointed by some of the defences of Hunt emerging from various Establishment figures, publicly and in private. A lot of these defences are being expressed behind the scenes and consist of “He’s a nice guy; he has no media training and was lost at sea; I’ve never seen any evidence of him behaving in a sexist manner so everything is fine”. Many of these people are sending these messages in the hope that the recipients will use their influence to defend him on their behalf. Stop it. If you want to defend Tim Hunt, at least have the spine to do it yourself.
5 – To those calling for more evidence of wrongdoing before “condemning” Hunt, just stop. The comments are evidence enough that he is not fit to hold ambassadorial roles in science. Being a great scientist does not justify being a purveyor of 1950s sexism.
Cheery Chris goes on to offer a range of solutions to the terrible problem of rampant sexism in the world of science.
Call out teachers who tell girls they can’t/shouldn’t do maths, physics etc;
Don’t let the bold (male or female) monopolise the conversation in the classroom or the apparatus in the laboratory, at the expense of the timid (female or male);
Nominate women for prizes, fellowships etc;
Tap women on the shoulder to encourage them to apply for opportunities they otherwise would be unaware of or feel they were not qualified for;
Sounds like a form of harrassment to me, this tapping innocent women on the shoulder and driving them like cattle towards careers to which they may be unsuited and which could ultimately cause them much needless unhappiness.
Really, a man as zealous as Chris seems far too high-minded to be wasted in Cardiff.
Are there any openings, you wonder, in the School of Psychology at the University of Raqqa?
Might be more to this, it looks like the female leftie ex bbc has some history of distorting the truth.
Will be very interesting to see if we see the truth.
Will be very interesting to see if we see the truth.
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