A scientist who caused uproar by telling an audience of journalists that woman in the laboratory were trouble has resigned as an honorary professor from University College London (UCL).
Tim Hunt, who won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 2001, had told the World Conference of Science Journalists in South Korea: "Let me tell you about my trouble with girls.
"Three things happen when they are in the lab: you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticise them they cry."
He later apologised for his remarks, saying they were intended to be funny. But UCL was not happy.
"UCL can confirm that Sir Tim Hunt FRS has resigned from his position as honorary professor with the UCL Faculty of Life Sciences," it said in a statement.
"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 Royal Society, of which Mr Hunt has been a fellow since 1991, also distanced itself from the comments. Speaking afterwards, Mr Hunt insisted his remarks were intended in a light-hearted way.
'Science is about getting at the truth'
"I did mean the part about having trouble with girls. It is true that people - 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."
"I found that these emotional entanglements made life very difficult."
"I'm really, really sorry I caused any offence, that's awful. I certainly didn't mean that. I just meant to be honest, actually."
Defending his remarks, he added: "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."
"Science is about nothing but getting at the truth and anything that gets in the way of that diminishes, in my experience, the science."
Mr Hunt reportedly described himself as a "chauvinist pig" and argued in favour of single-sex laboratories at the talk in South Korea.
Connie St Louis, a lecturer in science journalism at City University, who was in the audience at the time, said the experience was "awful", and the scientist's comments had been greeted with silence.
"A lot of my colleagues sat down and were taking notes because they couldn't believe in this day and age that somebody would be prepared to stand up and be so crass, so rude in a different culture and actually to be so openly sexist as well."
