Cern scientist: ‘Physics built by men – not by invitation’, by Pallab Ghosh at the BBC.
A senior scientist has given what has been described as a “highly offensive” presentation about the role of women in physics, the BBC has learned.
At a workshop organised by Cern, Prof Alessandro Strumia of Pisa University said that “physics was invented and built by men, it’s not by invitation”.
He said male scientists were being discriminated against because of ideology rather than merit. …
He produced a series of graphs which, he claimed, showed that women were hired over men whose research was cited more by other scientists in their publications, which is an indication of higher quality.
He also presented data that he claimed showed that male and female researchers were equally cited at the start of their careers but men scored progressively better as their careers progressed. …
As evidence of discrimination against male researchers, Prof Strumia claimed that “Oxford University extends exam times for women’s benefit” and “Italy offers free or cheaper university for female (research) students”. …
Notice that the political class in control do not object that it’s not true — because the facts are pretty clear:
Cern, the European nuclear research centre, described Prof Strumia’s presentation as “highly offensive”.
The centre … has removed slides used in the talk from its website “in line with a code of conduct that does not tolerate personal attacks and insults”. …
Dr Jessica Wade, a physicist at Imperial College London who was at the meeting, told BBC News that … “There were young women and men exchanging ideas and their experiences on how to encourage more women into the subject and to combat discrimination in their careers. Then this man gets up, saying all this horrible stuff.”
Notice also how the BBC uses words like “claimed” for what Prof Alessandro Strumia says, to signal to the readers that he is not to be believed. Saves on all that messy argumentation and fact-gathering — just tell the audience he’s not PC.
In 2015, Nobel laureate Prof Tim Hunt resigned from his position at University College London after telling an audience of young female scientists at a conference in South Korea that the “trouble with girls” in labs was that “when you criticise them they cry”.
UPDATE: CERN suspends Italian physicist over ‘sexist’ presentation, by AP.
CERN is currently headed by a woman: Italian particle physicist Fabiola Gianotti.
That sends the right message to anyone thinking truth is more important than being PC, don’t you think? Join James Damore in the naughty corner.
hat-tip Philip Barton, Stephen Neil
