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DOGE chief Elon Musk has been accused of flouting the aims of the Royal Society, of which he is a fellow, in a searing letter calling for his expulsion from the centuries-old academy
A leading British scientific society has responded to claims that Elon Musk led an assault on scientific progress, and spread “unfounded conspiracy theories”.
Musk, 53, has led a full-scale raid on US government spending while acting as the head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that recently moved to federal scientific programmes. The richest man in the world and owner of X, formerly Twitter, announced on his social media platform on Tuesday that DOGE axed 89 contracts in the Department of Education worth $881million (£710m), effectively wiping out the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) – the agency’s research and statistics office.
Additional swingeing cuts to the National Institute of Health (NIH) led to what experts have termed an “apocalypse of American science”, leaving leading experts “dumbstruck” and fearing for the future of public health. Musk’s massive impact has led to increasing scrutiny in the UK, where a leading scientist has called for him to be expelled from a major scientific society.
Hundreds of scientists urged the Royal Society to rescind its fellowship for Elon Musk.
An open letter, signed by more than 750 experts in Britain and around the world, claimed his promotion of “unfounded conspiracy theories” and “malicious” behaviour contravened the society’s code of conduct.
They said Musk’s position as a Fellow risked undermining the institution’s international reputation, as he, and President Donald Trump, spent “the past several weeks engaged in an assault on scientific research”. The letter, written by Emeritus Professor Stephen Curry – who worked as a structural biologist at Imperial until he retired last year – said: “I urge you, for the sake of decency and to offer hope in what are very troubling times, to demonstrate that the Royal Society has the courage to stand up for the scientific community and for the values that it claims to believe in.”
More than 750 scientists added their names to the open letter as signatories in just over 24 hours. There were signatories from the University of Cambridge, Universirty of Oxford, University College London (UCL), Durham University, University of Plymouth, the University of Warwick, and many others. Some signatories were also from Harvard University, although a number of people signed their names as “anonymous”.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror, a Royal Society spokesperson said any complaints raised against its fellows are “dealt with in strict confidence”. They said: “In the event of any concerns raised about the behaviour of a Fellow, the Society has a clear set of processes described in our code of conduct, which is published on our website along with relevant disciplinary regulations.
“Any issues raised in respect of individual Fellows are dealt with in strict confidence.” The letter from the society follows the high-profile resignation of Prof Dorothy Bishop, an emeritus professor of developmental neuropsychology at Oxford University, in late 2024. She handed her fellowship back to the society saying Musk’s behaviour was in “contradiction of all the values of the Royal Society”.
Dr Michael P Taylor, a Research Associate in Earth Sciences at Bristol University’s School of Earth Sciences, has called for Musk to be expelled from the Royal Society, the world’s oldest scientific academy. Musk was made a fellow of the academy in 2018, with the society noting his achievements as the CEO of Tesla, the Boring Company, SpaceX, and Neuralink.
Since then, Dr Taylor accused him of exhibiting behaviour that “has been the antithesis of that described by the Society’s Code of Conduct”. In a strongly worded letter to the organisation – posted to the site Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week (SVPOW!) – calling for his expulsion, he accused the world’s richest man of “egregiously and repeatedly” contravening its standards while impeding scientific process to an extent not seen since the years of the USSR.
He wrote: “Musk’s behaviour in every field has been the antithesis of that described by the Society’s Code of Conduct: ‘selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership’. I surely do not need to outline the ways in which his exploitative and malicious behaviour has egregiously and repeatedly contravened these standards.”
“Now Musk is an influential member of a US presidential administration that is actively impeding the progress of science on a scale not seen since the darkest days of the USSR, through censorship, catastrophic defunding, dismantling of infrastructure, and withdrawal from international coalitions. Added to this, his vindictive personal behaviour in targeting individuals contravenes every standard of decency.”
Dr Taylor accused the society of “effectively cheering him [Musk] on”, adding that the society cannot maintain its level of respect if it “retains Musk as a Fellow”. Dr Taylor concluded: “The choice now facing the Society is stark: retain the goodwill of a billionaire; or retain the respect of the scientific community. It is not possible to do both.”