I am extremely sorry for the remarks made during the recent Women in Science lunch at the world conference of science journalists in Seoul, Korea. Tim Hunt More Quotes by Tim Hunt More Quotes From Tim Hunt Science is about applying what we know and asking what we don't know. Tim Hunt about know asking science It's terribly important that you can criticise people's ideas without criticising them, and if they burst into tears, it means that you tend to hold back from getting at the absolute truth. Tim Hunt you tears truth people Winning a Nobel Prize isn't about being clever at all. It's about making... at least in physiology or medicine, it's about making discoveries, and you don't have to be clever to make a discovery, I don't think; it just comes up and punches you on the nose. Tim Hunt think you medicine winning I'm impressed by the economic development of Korea. And women scientists played, without doubt, an important role in it. Tim Hunt women development important doubt I had hoped to do a lot more to help promote science in this country and in Europe, but I cannot see how that can happen. I have become toxic. I have been hung to dry by academic institutes who have not even bothered to ask me for my side of affairs. Tim Hunt see me science country 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 because it's terribly important that, in a lab, people are on a level playing field. Tim Hunt me love science people Science is about nothing but getting at the truth, and anything that gets in the way of that diminishes, in my experience, the science. Tim Hunt experience truth science way I was born in 1943 at Neston in the Wirral, not far from Liverpool where my father, Richard William Hunt was a lecturer in paleography, the study of mediaeval manuscripts. Tim Hunt i-was-born born study father My education started with Latin taught at home by a governess, I can't imagine why, and for some reason I attended the Infants Department of the Oxford High School for Girls before moving to the Dragon School at the dangerous age of 8 or so. Tim Hunt age education home school At the age of 14, I moved across town to Magdalen College School, Oxford, where science played a much larger role in the curriculum. Tim Hunt college age science school In the fall of 1961, I went up to Clare College Cambridge to read Natural Sciences, with the intention of becoming a biochemist in the end. Tim Hunt in-the-end end college fall In 1968, I left Cambridge and went to work in New York with Irving M. London, who was then the chairman of the Department of Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Tim Hunt new medicine college work The idea was to study fertilization in as many different phyla and organisms as possible, using the simplest possible equipment and a microscope. Biochemical approaches were not much in vogue, and running gels impossible at first. Tim Hunt possible different study impossible My introduction to cell cycle control was provided by a clear, scholarly and beautiful seminar given by John Gerhart one afternoon in the summer of 1979. Tim Hunt control summer introduction beautiful 'Eureka' moments are very, very rare in my experience. It normally takes several weeks of experiments to tease out the truth, even when you have a really pretty good idea of what is going on. Tim Hunt good you experience truth In my own career, I have always tried to treat my colleagues with respect and kindness, whoever they are, and am proud to have developed and mentored the careers of many excellent young scientists who will be tackling tomorrow's biological problems long after I have left the scene. Tim Hunt colleagues respect tomorrow kindness I certainly don't recognise myself as the horrible sexist portrayed in media reports, and I don't think the women who have worked with me throughout my career do either. Tim Hunt myself think me women If UCL did offer to reinstate me, it would be churlish of me to refuse, but really, my work there was over. Tim Hunt offer over me work I fought for seven years to have creche facilities at the Okinawa Institute of Science of Technology - and was ultimately successful. Less successful have been efforts to get a creche at the new Crick Institute in London, but this is something I will continue to push for. Tim Hunt new will technology science My inbox is now bulging with touching emails from young women scientists who have been kind enough to write and thank me for inspiring them and helping them on their way. It has also been of great comfort to me to see many women at the top of science testifying for my record in supporting women scientists. Tim Hunt great me women science
