Sir Timothy Hunt’s resignation has been accepted and according to Professor Michael Arthur, president and provost of University College London, the former professor will not be reinstated following his alleged “sexist” remarks.
The 72-year-old Nobel Prize-winning scientist was, according to the Daily Mail, forced to resign after making what Hunt later referred to as “light-hearted” commentary regarding men and women in a laboratory environment.
Hunt reportedly joked at a conference in South Korea that men and women should “work in separate labs” and that when “girls” work in a lab, three things happen: “You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you and when you criticize them, they cry.”
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 criticize them, they cry.
The renowned evolutionary biologist and author, Professor Richard Dawkins, referred to criticism of Hunt and his remarks as a “witch-hunt,” BBC reported.
While Professor Arthur has made clear that Sir Tim’s remarks in no way “diminish his reputation as a scientist,” Tim will not return to UCL because “they do contradict the basic values of UCL – even if meant to be taken lightly – and because of that I believe we were right to accept his resignation.”
In other UCL news, researchers at the university published a study that suggests gender equality existed in early hunter-gatherers; this in contradiction to those who believe sexual equality to be a uniquely modern ideal.
