The Royal Society, the UK’s oldest scientific academy, will hold a meeting on March 3 to debate “principles around public pronouncements and behaviours of Fellows” after thousands of scientists signed an open letter questioning Elon Musk‘s continued membership in the prestigious institution.
More than 2,700 scientists have signed the letter written by Professor Stephen Curry of Imperial College London, which expresses dismay at the society’s “continued silence and apparent inaction” regarding Musk‘s fellowship, awarded in 2018.
“I am at a loss to understand how these actions are consistent with a code of conduct that requires fellows to have ‘due regard for the statement of values developed from time to time by Society’,” wrote Professor Curry, referring to Musk’s “promotion of unfounded conspiracy theories” and behavior on social media.
Several members have already resigned in protest, including Professor Dorothy Bishop, a University of Oxford psychologist, who said she refused to be associated with an institution that called Musk a member, who she said was modeling himself on a “Bond villain.”
“The situation is rendered more serious because Mr Musk now occupies a position within a Trump administration in the USA that has over the past several weeks engaged in an assault on scientific research in the US,” said Curry.
No fellow has been expelled from the Royal Society in more than 150 years, when Rudolf Eric Raspe was removed due to fraud. The Times reported one anonymous fellow saying: “I don’t like what Musk is doing — it’s reprehensible. But I also think he’s an astounding person in terms of what he has contributed to engineering.”
In a letter to fellows, Sir Adrian Smith, president of the Royal Society, acknowledged concerns about “public pronouncements and behaviours of other fellows” but noted the society was “on difficult ground if the society makes judgments as to the acceptability of the views or affiliations of our colleagues, particularly views that might be regarded as being political.”