Royal Society to vote on expelling 'Bond villain' Elon Musk
Source: The Times
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The Tesla and SpaceX boss was made a fellow of Britain’s most auspicious scientific institution in 2018 in recognition of his contributions to electric vehicle and space travel engineering.
At the time he was described as a “21st-century Isambard Kingdom Brunel”, the eminent Victorian engineer. But his recent backing of Donald Trump, downplaying of climate change and attacks on fellow scientists have outraged sections of academia. Others, however, have warned that if researchers wade into a row over Musk, they risks damaging public trust in scientific objectivity.
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Two fellows — Professor Dorothy Bishop, an eminent psychologist at the University of Oxford, and Professor Andrew Millar, a systems biologist at Edinburgh University — have resigned their fellowships over Musk’s continued membership of the Royal Society.
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Giving up her fellowship in November, Bishop said: “Any pleasure I may take in the distinction of the honour of [being a Royal Society fellow] is diminished by the fact it is shared with someone who appears to be modelling himself on a Bond villain, a man who has immeasurable wealth and power which he will use to threaten scientists who disagree with him.”
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Read more: https://www.thetimes.com/article/bbabf085-8d70-46b5-aff7-a379b71ee0f9
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