Dr. Dorothy Bishop, Emeritus Professor of Developmental Neuropsychology at Oxford University, resigned her post at the UK’s Royal Society over Elon Musk’s fellowship. Bishop says the honor of being a fellow of the Royal Society is diluted by the fact it is shared “with someone who appears to be modeling himself on a Bond villain”.
The Royal Society currently has around 1,800 fellows, and being appointed is considered a pinnacle of many scientists’ careers, a distinction Musk earned in 2018 for his contributions to the space and electric vehicle industries.
In August, a group of 74 other fellows had written to the President of the Royal Society proposing to revoke Musk’s fellowship over his comments on unrest in the UK. They raised doubts over whether he was a “fit and proper person” to hold fellowship. However, the Royal Society lawyer concluded Musk did not violate the organisation’s code of conduct.
Bishop’s resignation was partly driven by frustration over the difficulty of removing a fellow from the Society. In her blog, she pointed out that no fellow has been expelled in the past 150 years, arguing that election to fellowship, “like loss of virginity, is something that can’t readily be reversed.” She believes the lack of action is partly due to the fact many fellows are not active on social media and therefore do not get a complete picture of Musk’s actions.
Bishop stated that Musk’s fellowship made her uncomfortable, calling it a “contradiction of all the values” of the UK’s national academy of sciences. Along with several other fellows, she gathered evidence suggesting Musk’s actions conflicted with the Royal Society’s Code of Conduct. This included social media posts that they argued offended the LGBTQ+ community and put members of the scientific community at risk. They also raised concerns about Musk’s work with Neuralink, claiming it failed to adhere to regulatory procedures for Good Regulatory Practice.
Additionally, Bishop criticized Musk’s promotion of anti-vaccine views, downplaying of climate change, and spread of deepfakes, which she argued ran counter to the Society’s principles. Musk also threatened legal action against a group of researchers whose work showed that hate speech on the platform X (formerly Twitter) has increased since his acquisition of the site.
She also noted that Musk’s fellowship made her unable to comply with the society’s code of conduct which calls for fellows to treat each other “collegially and with courtesy”.
Bishop called her decision a “gut reaction”. She admitted that her resignation probably would not have any real effect but that it brought her comfort to be disassociated with the organisation: “I didn’t really want to have anything to do with it”. Still, in her blog, Bishop referred to the Royal Society as a “venerable institution” and highlighted the important work it does in promoting science.
