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Climate and science reporter, BBC News
Victoria Gill
Science correspondent, BBC News
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Members of the UK’s Royal Society have urged the elite scientific academy to “step up its efforts to advocate for science and scientists” amid a row over one of its fellows – Elon Musk.
Over the last nine months, many scientists have raised concerns about the controversial billionaire’s behaviour, which has been called a “threat to science”.
A meeting on Monday evening did not result in Mr Musk’s expulsion, but it has drawn the world’s oldest scientific academy into a divisive, political row.
The campaign to revoke Mr Musk’s membership centres on suggestions, from a growing number of fellows, that the billionaire’s actions are “incompatible” with the society’s own code of conduct.
Mr Musk has overseen unprecedented funding cuts to scientific research in the US, in his senior role in President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (or Doge).
Mr Musk has also been accused of sharing misinformation on his social media platform, X.
In a statement after the meeting, the Royal Society addressed those issues, saying that members who attended were particularly concerned about the fate of scientists in the US, “amid threats of radical cutbacks in research funding”.
The society agreed to “look at potential further actions” to “counter the misinformation and ideologically motivated attacks on both science and scientists”.
The BBC understands that a letter will be sent to Mr Musk from the Royal Society.
The post Elon Musk sparks row at Royal Society but remains a member first appeared on EnviroLink Network.