Science

CERN scientist is SACKED for ‘sexism’ six months after saying physics was 'built by men'


Europe’s leading particle physics research centre has severed ties with a guest lecturer who suggested women are inferior to men in the world of science. 

Professor Alessandro Strumia from the University of Pisa will no longer deliver talks at the CERN institute. 

Professor Strumia gave a presentation claiming men face discrimination in the field of physics.

He also suggested work conducted by female scientists was of a lesser quality than that of their male peers. 

The scientist was suspended following his presentation in September 2018 and CERN has confirmed he will no longer work for the institution. 

Professor Strumia stands by his claims and has also been reprimanded by the University of Pisa, where he works permanently. 

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Europe's leading particle physics research centre, CERN, has severed ties with a guest lecturer who suggested women are inferior to men in the world of scientific research. Professor Alessandro Strumia (pictured) will no longer deliver talks at the institute

Europe’s leading particle physics research centre, CERN, has severed ties with a guest lecturer who suggested women are inferior to men in the world of scientific research. Professor Alessandro Strumia (pictured) will no longer deliver talks at the institute

Professor Strumia told a congregation of mainly female physicists at a talk on workshop in Geneva on gender and high energy physics that he had conducted research and conclusive ‘proof’ to support his theory.  

The disgraced researcher said at the time: ‘Physics is not sexist against women. However the truth does not matter, because it is part of a political battle coming from outside.’

‘Physics invented and built by men, it’s not by invitation,’ one slide said. 

Professor Strumia also produced a series of graphs that he said showed women got jobs over men despite being cited less often. 

Cartoons mocking the movement campaigning for parity and equality for all genders in STEM subjects were also displayed.  

CERN suspended him after the controversial talk and has now issued a statement cutting all ties with him. 

‘As a result of its own investigation… CERN decided not to extend Professor Strumia’s status of Guest Professor,’ the lab said in a statement.

Profesor Strumia told BBC News that he stands by his remarks despite the widespread condemnation.  

‘Some people hated hearing about higher male variance: this idea comes from Darwin, like other offensive ideas that got observational support.

‘Science is not about being offended when facts challenge ideas held as sacred’.

He also claims to have been unjustly treated throughout his investigation.  

Cartoons mocking the movement campaigning for parity and equality for all genders in STEM subjects were also displayed (pictured)

Cartoons mocking the movement campaigning for parity and equality for all genders in STEM subjects were also displayed (pictured)

Professor Strumia suggested work conducted by female scientists was of a lesser quality than that of their male peers. The scientist was suspended following his presentation in September 2018 and CERN has confirmed he will no longer work for the institution

Professor Strumia suggested work conducted by female scientists was of a lesser quality than that of their male peers. The scientist was suspended following his presentation in September 2018 and CERN has confirmed he will no longer work for the institution

‘For months, CERN kept ‘investigating’ if my 30-minute talk might have violated CERN rules [requiring an] ‘obligation to exercise reserve and tact in expressing personal opinions and communication to the public’,’ Professor Strumia said.

Reaction to the decision among the scientific community has been mixed, with some parties claiming he demonstrated scientific fact and lost his job as a result. 

Others have heralded it as a courageous step from CERN in the ongoing quest for sexual equality.  

Dr Sam Gregson, a physicist working at the University of Cambridge said he was ‘disappointed’ by the decision from CERN despite disgareeing the majority of his opinions. 

He said on Twitter: ‘Science shouldn’t be a discipline where certain topics of discussion are ‘off limits’. 

‘I disagree with a lot of what Strumia said, but hearing and then dismissing/validating controversial ideas is vital. Disappointed by this emotional reaction.’ 

The decision from CERN to distance itself from Professor Strumia comes one day before International Women’s Day.

It also comes one day after Anne McClain and Christina Koch were announced by NASA as the astronauts set to break the celestial glass ceiling when they embark on the first ever all-female space walk on March 29. 

Sexism in science propagates throughout the community and several movements have been started to reduce discrimination. 

Hashtags such as #WomenInSTEM, #WomenInTech and #STEMWomen have gained long overdue momentum within the community as female academics continue to find themselves marginalised by science’s patriarchy. 

The Instagram account ‘women doing science’ has accrued more than 35,000 followers. 

James Watson, a Nobel prize winner and co-discoverer of the double helix structure of DNA, has recently come under huge amounts of scrutiny following comments about ethnic minorities, women and people with disabilities. 

The 90-year-old scientist was forced to sell his Nobel medal after described those who aided him with the discovery as ‘losers’ and ‘autistic’.

He also described those who aided him with the discovery as ‘losers’ and ‘autistic’. 

While Crick and Watson shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discovery in 1962, but Rosalind Franklin’s contributions remained largely unrecognised for decades.  

WHAT IS THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER?

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator.

It is located in a 27-kilometer (16.8-mile) tunnel beneath the Swiss-French border.

The LHC started colliding particles in 2010. Inside the 27-km LHC ring, bunches of protons travel at almost the speed of light and collide at four interaction points. 

Inside the accelerator, two high-energy particle beams travel at close to the speed of light before they are made to collide. The beams travel in opposite directions in separate beam pipes.

They are guided around the accelerator ring by a strong magnetic field maintained by superconducting electromagnets.

The LHC (pictured) was restarted on April 5 this year, having been turned off for two years during a major renovation project that cost £100 million 

The LHC (pictured) was restarted on April 5th 2015, having been turned off for two years during a major renovation project that cost £100 million 

The electromagnets are built from coils of special electric cable that operates in a superconducting state, efficiently conducting electricity without resistance or loss of energy.

These collisions generate new particles, which are measured by detectors surrounding the interaction points. 

A view of the LHC's Compact Muon Solenoid experiment is shown

A view of the LHC’s Compact Muon Solenoid experiment is shown

By analysing these collisions, physicists from all over the world are deepening our understanding of the laws of nature.

While the LHC is able to produce up to 1 billion proton-proton collisions per second, the HL-LHC will increase this number, referred to by physicists as ‘luminosity’, by a factor of between five and seven, allowing about 10 times more data to be accumulated between 2026 and 2036. 

This means that physicists will be able to investigate rare phenomena and make more accurate measurements. 

For example, the LHC allowed physicists to unearth the Higgs boson in 2012, thereby making great progress in understanding how particles acquire their mass. The subatomic particle had long been theorised but wasn’t confirmed until 2013. 

 



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