Singapore Starting Gender-Segregated Labs To Produce Future Nobel Prize Winners
Yesterday, Sir Tim Hunt, a Nobel laureate who won the prize in 2001 for the discovery of proteins that control cell division, was forced to resign following his sexist comments that scientists should work in gender-segregated labs, because - "Three things happen when they (girls) are in the lab: You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticize them they cry.”
This sparked a few debates online on whether gender-segregated labs would lead to better science because of fewer distractions.
When asked to comment, Dr. Robert Ng, Chairman of the National Biological Institute of Singapore, said that," These scientists are highly intelligent and they think way ahead of the rest of the world. How many scientific theories have already been proved true that were initially condemned? Like, the earth is round? I believe that this hypothesis will be true - segregating the men and women will lead to better science."
Starting 2016, the institute will go through large makeovers by segregating all male researchers into Building A, and female researchers into Building B.
The board of directors are hopeful that this new scheme will nurture future Nobel prize winners, pointing out that "we need Nobel scientists, and forcing them into a sexist environment might make them into future Tim Hunts."
