LONDON - A Nobel Prize-winning British scientist says he was forced to resign after sexist comments drew widespread condemnation.
Tim Hunt told The Observer newspaper in a story published Sunday that he had been "hung out to dry" after being forced out of an honorary post at University College London and losing his position with the European Research Council science committee.
The university and the research council didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
The 72-year-old Hunt said he was never given a chance to explain his position. The trouble started when he told the World Conference of Science Journalists in South Korea that there was a "trouble with girls" who worked in laboratories, saying they cry when criticized.
Several prominent female colleagues have defended Hunt.
Connie St Louis of London's City University was among the first to raise the issue when she tweeted that Hunt said when women work alongside men in labs, "you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticize them, they cry."
Hunt, a biochemist who was joint recipient of the 2001 Nobel for physiology or medicine, said he was just trying to be humorous. He told BBC radio that he was "really, really sorry I caused any offense."
Female scientists later took to Twitter to express their outrage over - and mock - comments from Hunt.Under the hashtag #DistractinglySexy, the women posted photos of themselves at work in their field - some in lab coats, others at archeological dig sites - with comments that turned the tables on Hunt by sarcastically questioning how they managed to get any research done between sobbing and romancing their male colleagues.
Scientist claims forced resignation over sexist comments
/ CBS/AP
LONDON - A Nobel Prize-winning British scientist says he was forced to resign after sexist comments drew widespread condemnation.
Tim Hunt told The Observer newspaper in a story published Sunday that he had been "hung out to dry" after being forced out of an honorary post at University College London and losing his position with the European Research Council science committee.
The university and the research council didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
The 72-year-old Hunt said he was never given a chance to explain his position. The trouble started when he told the World Conference of Science Journalists in South Korea that there was a "trouble with girls" who worked in laboratories, saying they cry when criticized.
Several prominent female colleagues have defended Hunt.
Connie St Louis of London's City University was among the first to raise the issue when she tweeted that Hunt said when women work alongside men in labs, "you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticize them, they cry."
Hunt, a biochemist who was joint recipient of the 2001 Nobel for physiology or medicine, said he was just trying to be humorous. He told BBC radio that he was "really, really sorry I caused any offense."
Female scientists later took to Twitter to express their outrage over - and mock - comments from Hunt.Under the hashtag #DistractinglySexy, the women posted photos of themselves at work in their field - some in lab coats, others at archeological dig sites - with comments that turned the tables on Hunt by sarcastically questioning how they managed to get any research done between sobbing and romancing their male colleagues.
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