--- title: Embattled Nobel Scientist Tim Hunt Resigns After Sexist Comments description: Prof. Tim Hunt, who made headlines for his comments on the "trouble with girls" in laboratories, resigned Thursday from a London university. canonical: https://time.com/3917390/science-chauvinism-sexism-tim-hunt-resigns-university-college-london/ author: Alissa Greenberg article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-11T09:26:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:24.480Z og:title: Nobel Scientist Tim Hunt Resigns After Sexist Remarks og:description: The ex-University College London professor said his words were misconstrued og:url: https://time.com/3917390/science-chauvinism-sexism-tim-hunt-resigns-university-college-london/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75794564e4159a29/6988540ba988cab31c6b2f88/gettyimages-141713645.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3300 og:image:height: 1856 og:image:alt: English biochemist, the Nobel-prize winn og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Nobel Scientist Tim Hunt Resigns After Sexist Remarks twitter:description: The ex-University College London professor said his words were misconstrued twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75794564e4159a29/6988540ba988cab31c6b2f88/gettyimages-141713645.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Embattled Nobel Scientist Tim Hunt Resigns After Sexist Remarks > Sponsored content. 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An inside look at one of the world's first feminist parties_ by [Alissa Greenberg](https://time.com/author/alissa-greenberg/) ## Alissa Greenberg Jun 11, 2015 9:26 AM UTC  English biochemist, the Nobel-prize winner Sir Richard Timothy 'Tim' Hunt meets with the press at the Jozsef Attila Study and Information Centre of Szeged Sciences University in Szegede on March 22, 2012 English biochemist, the Nobel-prize winner Sir Richard Timothy 'Tim' Hunt meets with the press at the Jozsef Attila Study and Information Centre of Szeged Sciences University in Szegede on March 22, 2012AFP/Getty Images by [Alissa Greenberg](https://time.com/author/alissa-greenberg/) ## Alissa Greenberg Jun 11, 2015 9:26 AM UTC Tim Hunt, the Nobel-winning scientist who made headlines Wednesday for comments on the “trouble with girls” working in laboratories, [resigned from his position](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33090022) as honorary professor at University College London on Thursday, the BBC reports. Hunt, who told a room full of high-ranking scientists and science journalists at a global conference in South Korea that working with women was troublesome because “they fall in love with you and when you criticize them, they cry,” won a Nobel in 2001 for his work in physiology and medicine. He told the BBC’s Radio 4 Wednesday that while he stood by his remarks, he was “really sorry that I said what I said” and noted it was “a very stupid thing to do in the presence of all those journalists”. On the BBC, Hunt explained that his comments were “intended as a light-hearted, ironic comment” and had been misconstrued. He also said that the aforementioned “trouble” had been drawn from his own experience. “I have fallen in love with people in the lab and people in the lab have fallen in love with me and it’s very disruptive to the science,” he said. “I found that these emotional entanglements made life very difficult.” His now former employer has been careful to distance itself from him. “UCL was the first university in England to admit women students on equal terms to men, and the university believes that this outcome is compatible with our commitment to gender equality,” the University said in a statement. \[[BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33090022)\] _Read next:_ [_Tennis Star Andy Murray Says He Has Become a Feminist_](http://time.com/3910521/andy-murray-feminist/?iid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/autoplay/?xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3917390/science-chauvinism-sexism-tim-hunt-resigns-university-college-london/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3917390/science-chauvinism-sexism-tim-hunt-resigns-university-college-london/"},"headline":"Embattled Nobel Scientist Tim Hunt Resigns After Sexist Remarks","datePublished":"2015-06-11T09:26:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:48:24.480Z","description":"Hunt said his remarks were intended as a \"light-hearted, ironic comment\"","url":"https://time.com/3917390/science-chauvinism-sexism-tim-hunt-resigns-university-college-london/","keywords":["Newsfeed","england","Science topic","sexism","nobel prize","resignation"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75794564e4159a29/6988540ba988cab31c6b2f88/gettyimages-141713645.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alissa Greenberg","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alissa-greenberg/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75794564e4159a29/6988540ba988cab31c6b2f88/gettyimages-141713645.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"English biochemist, the Nobel-prize winn","caption":"English biochemist, the Nobel-prize winn","creditText":"AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3917390/science-chauvinism-sexism-tim-hunt-resigns-university-college-london/","name":"Embattled Nobel Scientist Tim Hunt Resigns After Sexist Remarks"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Feminism Comes to the Forefront of Swedish Politics","description":"An inside look at one of the world's first feminist parties","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/IjgnFCKB/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-09-12T15:49:10.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/IjgnFCKB.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3917390/science-chauvinism-sexism-tim-hunt-resigns-university-college-london/","duration":"PT2M48S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3917390/science-chauvinism-sexism-tim-hunt-resigns-university-college-london/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```