Royal Society to hold meeting after concerns raised over fellow Elon Musk

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The Royal Society is set to hold a meeting after an open letter was signed by thousands of people over the society’s “failure” to recognise fellow Elon Musk “has acted in contravention of its own code of conduct”. In the open letter, Professor Curry says he is writing to “express my dismay at the continued silence and apparent inaction from the Royal Society over the fellowship awarded in 2018 to Elon Musk”. He added: “I am at a loss to understand how these actions are consistent with a code of conduct that requires fellows to have ‘due regard for the statement of values developed from time to time by Society’,.” Professor Curry also said the situation was “rendered more serious” as Mr Musk now occupies a position within Mr Trump’s administration “that has, over the past several weeks, engaged in an assault on scientific research in the US” which has “sought to impose huge cuts in funding and a regime of censorship” that is a “direct threat to freedom of expression and academic freedom”. He ends the letter by saying: “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.” In a letter to fellows, Sir Adrian said a meeting will be held on March 3 and added: “Council has thought long and hard about concerns that have been raised by some of our fellows about public pronouncements and behaviours of other fellows and is aware that such behaviours and statements can be offensive.