'Women are distraction in labs': Nobel winner Tim Hunt's sexist remarks land him in trouble

One would not usually expect sexist remarks from a scientist, since women are the driving force behind many leading scientific discoveries. [caption id=“attachment_2290840” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Tim Hunt. AFP[/caption] Which is why British Nobel Prize winning biochemist Sir Tim Hunt’s sexist comments at a conference in South Korea came as a surprise. The 72-year old Nobel Laureate, on 8 June, called himself a ‘chauvinist’ and said that he was in favour of single-sex science labs as women could be a distraction because they ‘fall in love’ and ‘cry when criticized’. To make matters worse, these comments were made at a lunch hosted by women. He was quoted as saying, “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.” Hunt’s comments were tweeted by Connie St Loius, the director of Science Journalism at City University, London.

Hunt is a Fellow at The Royal Society and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2001 for the discovery of protein molecules that control the duplication of cells. As expected, Hunt received a lot of flak for his misogynistic comments that not only sparked outrage on the internet, but also prompted action from organisations associated with him. The Royal Society was quick to clear its name in the matter putting up a statement on their website saying, ““The Royal Society has acted to distance itself from reported comments by Sir Tim Hunt FRS about women in science (…) Sir Tim Hunt was speaking as an individual and his reported comments in no way reflect the views of the Royal Society.” In the face of criticism,  Hunt stepped down from his role as Honorary Professor with the UCL Faculty of Life Sciences at University College London (UCL) on 10 June. The University put out a  statement confirming Hunt’s resignation and made their stand clear saying “UCL was the first university in England to admit women students on equal terms to men, and the university believes that this outcome is compatible with our commitment to gender equality.” While Hunt as apologised for his remarks, the damage has already been done. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said that he meant the remarks to be humorous — but added he “did mean the part about having trouble with girls”, reports  The Guardian. The apology however seems to be prompted by necessity as science writer  Deborah Blum tweeted that when she asked him about the comments, hoping they were a joke, he repeated them. Irrespective of the intention, Hunt’s comments were uncalled for, coming from someone holding his position in the science fraternity.