A Nobel laureate claimed antimale discrimination. An early-career researcher called it out

A contentious exchange between a Nobel laureate and an early-career scientist at this year’s Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting is sparking discussions about sexism in science—and highlights the disconnect between some established academics and many of today’s early-career researchers. The meeting, currently underway in Germany, attracts dozens of Nobel Prize winners and about 600 students and postdocs each year. In addition to building a cohort of emerging talent, the gathering is meant to connect generations of scientists and inspire students early in their careers. But during a session about structural biology on 27 June, Kurt Wüthrich–who was awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2002 for the development of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and currently runs research groups in Switzerland, the United States, and China– used some of his time to address a personal grievance about the meeting’s focus on diversity , including an opening panel discussing the topic. “Science is not going to be the main subject, unfortunately,” he said, going on to add that “as a male scientist, I have a feeling of discrimination when I am here, in the climate that this meeting is being held.” After Wüthrich’s presentation, a visibly nervous early-career scientist approached the microphone. “As a female researcher, it’s been very uncomfortable for myself to see a Nobel laureate talking about so-called male discrimination,” the woman said. The...
Source: ScienceNOW - Category: Science Source Type: news