‘Highly offensive’ presentation under scrutiny

Europe’s particle physics laboratory Cern has blocked a researcher from carrying out any work at its facilities as it investigates what it called a “highly offensive” presentation given at a workshop on gender and science.

The researcher at the centre of the row has been named as Alessandro Strumia of Pisa University, and both his university and funder have now said they are looking into the incident.

Cern said the meeting organisers were not aware of the talk’s content—described by several attendees as sexist—before the workshop. Cern itself called the presentation “highly offensive”, and added it “supports the many members of the community that have expressed their indignation for the unacceptable statements contained in the presentation”.