In June of 2015, Nobel laureate Tim Hunt gave a speech at the World Conference for Science Journalists in Seoul, South Korea, to a luncheon of female scientists. Part of the speech is recounted as follows: It's strange that such a chauvinist monster like me has been asked to speak to women scientists. 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. Perhaps we should make separate labs for boys and girls? Now, seriously, I'm impressed by the economic development of Korea. And women scientists played, without doubt an important role in it. Science needs women, and you should do science, despite all the obstacles, and despite monsters like me. An attendee of the luncheon, outraged by his remarks, publicized them on Twitter, creating a lot of backlash against Hunt. In his words, Hunt intended his speech to be a joke, which he thought he’d made clear enough by the inclusion of the words, “Now, seriously,” but his intentions didn’t come through in the way he’d hoped. Soon afterward, under fire from social media, Hunt resigned from his position as honorary professor at University College London and gave up his place on the Royal Society’s Biological Sciences Awards Committee. According to a student’s statement to his wife, if he hadn’t resigned, he would’ve been fired. How did this happen?
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November 2019
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