Yes, that's what it's like to work in the lab.
Just sexy people in labcoats falling in love and crying. Like on Scrubs.
And apparently my weak male brain can't handle the pressure of working with a female partner. I must be separated from the women, or who knows what I might do when I lose control because my brain is taken over by carnal lust?
The fact that it was a joke does not make it okay. He is a Nobel Laureate and one of the foremost scientists in the world in his field. Being a leader does not excuse the behavior, it makes the standards expected of him all the higher. This wasn't an off-hand joke he made to some friends on their downtime, he stood up in front of a room full of women as a speaker in a panel on women in science and then made the comment that laboratories should be gender segregated because women cry, can't control themselves emotionally, and are so sexy that they distract men. That was not a smart thing to do.
I will say this though, from experience. Academic science is an absolute shitshow of petty squabbling and politics. Reputation is the lifeblood of academia. Departments compete for very limited grant money, and the grant writers are absolutely paranoid about the possibility of losing face.
It's insane, and it's utterly ridiculous that he lost his job over it, when a formal apology should have been all it took. By all counts, he appears to have been a capable teacher and an excellent scientist. It's also inexcusable that his wife should have taken the blowback as well. However, I have confidence that once this has all blown over cooler heads will prevail and he will be able to appeal the decision.
