Bob CollinsGuest professor Alessandro Strum is no longer welcome at the European particle physics research center CERN. Not after he offered his own scientific theory at a symposium on gender equality — that women are not as able at physics as men.
Offered a chance to repent by the BBC overnight, Strum demurred.
“Some people hated hearing about higher male variance: this idea comes from Darwin, like other offensive ideas that got observational support,” he told BBC News.
“Science is not about being offended when facts challenge ideas held as sacred”.
It started last fall when Strum observed that physics was “invented and built by men.” And he said his scientific research showing women inferior to men in matters of physics would be proved correct if only scientific journals would print it. They won’t.
CERN was unmoved, dismissing him as professor.
“Cern reaffirms its commitment to the paramount importance of respect and diversity in the workplace,” it said in a statement.
“Well-funded senior academics should not use their positions of power to attack colleagues or demean the work of women,” said Dr Jessica Wade, a London physicist who was at last fall’s symposium.
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