18 June 2015
Sir Tim Hunt
by Lynda Goetz
I had not heard of Sir Tim Hunt until about a week ago. Perhaps I should have done, since he is a Nobel prize-winning scientist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2001 with two other scientists, Paul Nurse and Leland H. Hartwell for their discovery of protein molecules that control the division of cells. Clearly, in his field he is pre-eminent. However, apart from a very few individuals, most of whom are dead, the names of those at the forefront of science are not well-known to those outside the scientific world. It is in the nature of their work that it is conducted away from the public eye in universities and laboratories and that any celebrity status that comes their way is likely to be amongst other scientists. However, in a week which has also given us the exciting news that the Philae lander has ‘woken up’ and is now transmitting data back to earth (can you remember any of the names of the scientists behind that amazing exploit?) poor Sir Tim is currently ‘enjoying’ a moment in the media spotlight which has nothing to do with his work and everything to do with having fallen foul of the baying mobs of the strident feminists and the politically-correct who are afraid to upset them.
Let us look just briefly at what our eminent man said when addressing the world conference of science journalists in Seoul. He had been asked to speak at a meeting about women in science. He opened with the following words: “Let me tell you about my problem 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.” It was the last statement which caused uproar; but just imagine for a moment what would have happened if a woman had made a similar jibe about men. Perhaps along the lines of “….and when you criticise them they tell you to f…off because they know exactly what they’re doing.” Would that have raised a laugh? Possibly or possibly not, but it certainly would not have resulted in a vicious Twitter campaign leading to enforced resignation and the sudden end to an illustrious career. Why not? Because at this moment in history women are allowed to make jokes at the expense of men, but men have to be very, very careful when making jokes at the expense of women (not to mention any of the other politically incorrect subjects). Is this really how we want our society to be?
Sir Tim is married to fellow scientist, Mary Collins, who is also connected to University College London. She is a professor there and a former dean. As she herself said, “I am a feminist. I would not have put up with him if he’d been sexist.” She feels extremely let down by the organisation for which she works and considers that they rushed to protect their own reputation (although from what exactly is not really clear) before finding out her husband’s point of view or listening to his side of the story. She was contacted by UCL before Sir Tim was even back in the country and told he had to resign or be sacked. She points out that the well-being of the staff who work for them is clearly of no consequence to the university.
The European Research Council (ERC) has also forced Sir Tim to step down from his position on the science committee in view of his resignation from UCL.
‘Freedom of speech’ is rather a tricky concept at this point in history, and not something I wish to debate at length here, but increasing restrictions to it should certainly not mean that a man of 72, who over the course of his lifetime has had to, and clearly has adapted to, a great many changes, should be derided as sexist for a rather inept attempt at jocularity. He is after all a scientist and, whilst not all of them are on the autistic spectrum, an ability to deal with the feelings of others is not always amongst their best attributes. He was making an observation, a personal observation, but one that is backed up by research. Women do, on the whole, cry more than men for a variety of reasons. Sir Tim Hunt has a lifetime of scientific experience to pass on and a contribution still to make to the scientific community. Shame on UCL for its knee-jerk reaction.
