The UK's Royal Society was founded in 1660. Among its fellows have been numbered some of the most notable scientists in human history, such as Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein. Election as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) is still a significant honour, for scientists who are not just eminent in their field, but have made a significant contribution to scientific knowledge.
Since 2018, Elon Musk has been among their number.
To carry out groundbreaking scientific research, it is not necessary, of course, to be a nice person. However the Royal Society does have a Code of Conduct. It has not, apparently, expelled a Fellow in the last 150 years. But in August 2024 a group of 74 Fellows sent a letter to the President of the Royal Society, raising concerns about Musk's conduct and asking whether he was "a fit and proper person to hold the considerable honour of being a Fellow of the Royal Society".
The Royal Society's refusal to take action led in November to Professor Dorothy Bishop resigning as a Fellow, explaining her reasons for doing so on her blog.
Since Donald Trump's inauguration of President as the United States, Musk has wreaked havoc, taking a leading role in attempts to dismantle vital US government functions. This goes beyond even the concerns about his politics and support for the far right. As detailed below, his actions are causing massive global harm and include direct attacks on scientific research.
Spreading lies and misinformation
Elon Musk has a long history of personally sharing and amplifying misinformation on X (formerly Twitter), including on Covid vaccines, and including personal attacks (more detail in Professor Bishop's post). Under his ownership, climate scientists experienced an upsurge in hostility and abuse, and a reduction in engagement on their posts, while replies from apparent trolls or bots increased, resulting in scientists leaving the platform en masse.
His political alliances and comments on climate change indicate a swing to climate denial. In August he engaged Trump in an interview described as ‘the dumbest climate conversation of all time’, during which Musk said the main danger of allowing carbon dioxide to build up in the atmosphere was that at some point it will become difficult to breathe.
(Illegally) gutting USAID and other vital state functions causing grievous harm
Since Donald Trump has taken office, the president has given Musk complete freedom, as head of the newly created 'Department of Government Efficiency', to purge what Musk sees as government waste. Officials who have resisted DOGE’s demands have been quickly put on administrative leave.
When Congress directs that money be spent, the President does not have the legal power to unilaterally prevent this. Nor does the widespread use of administrative leave necessarily appear to be legal. Democrats have raised questions about the clear conflict of interest in giving Musk power over agencies which are investigating or regulating his own companies. Many of DOGE's actions have been officially blocked or paused by judges' orders, for example the attempt to access Treasury systems that make government payments, including access to American tax-payers' personal information. But this does not always prevent them being carried out in practice. Ultimately, the concern is that the US Supreme Court is controlled by those loyal to Trump and may ultimately allow him to expand presidential power.
The most significant attack is on the US Agency for International Development (USAID) whose spending has been halted, and its headquarters forcibly emptied with officials put on administrative leave. USAID distributes between $40 billion and $60 billion per year—almost a quarter of all global humanitarian aid. While in recent years the largest shares of that aid have gone to Ukraine, Israel, and Afghanistan, the agency also distributes billions of dollars to Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia, where it primarily helps promote food security, health and sanitation, and education efforts. USAID was established by Congress, and again, legally neither Musk nor Trump actually has the power to dissolve the agency.
The impacts of the loss of funding in Africa alone will be calamitous. Some 15 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa depend on antiretroviral medication funded by the US. Clinics across Africa have begun running out of these lifesaving drugs. In Tanzania where 1.4 million people rely on these, health experts predicted that within six months, the country's hospitals will be overwhelmed with AIDS-related complications, and that they would see increased drug resistance due to treatment interruptions.
Without US provision of free mosquito nets, diagnostic tests, and treatments, experts also warned that malaria deaths could surge by 20% in countries like Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique. Funding cuts have halted disease surveillance programs and capacity to contain the outbreak of dangerous illnesses such as Ebola. In addition to terminating healthcare, vital food aid has also been cut off to areas such as Sudan and South Sudan, at risk of famine. In the longer term funding cuts jeopardise projects to cut emissions and boost climate resilience.
Meanwhile Musk, whose personal wealth was as of 11 February, estimated at £378,800 million, gloated on Twitter about 'feeding USAID into the wood chipper', describing it as a 'criminal organization'.
Damaging scientific research
Within the US, most medical research in the U.S. is funded by the National Institutes of Health. These grants are set to be reduced across the board by capping indirect costs that can be claimed as part of a grant, leaving major institutions facing shortfalls of around $100 million. A federal judge has now temporarily paused the cut.
The USAID funding freeze has also hit scientific research around the world including medical trials. The 'stop work order' forbade medical professionals even to communicate with trial participants, a clear violation of ethical research principles, some reporting having to go against it in order to remove experimental devices from people’s bodies and not leave them unmonitored and without medical support.
There are fears that Musk's agency could also single out NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a key climate science agency, as well as provider of vital information for weather forecasts and ocean management.
Time for the Royal Society to act
An open letter to the President of the Royal Society has now been signed by over 1300 members of the UK and international scientific community, and is still open for scientists to sign.
Professor Dorothy Bishop has published an update on her blog. Meanwhile, a second Fellow, Professor Andrew Millar, has now resigned over Musk's continued membership, while another, climate scientist Michael Mann, has said Musk 'debases the Society'
There are two key reasons for the Royal Society to expel Elon Musk. Firstly that such a well-respected scientific institution should lend its credibility to Musk seems to legitimise his actions. The second is that the essence of science is that conclusions can be re-examined when new evidence becomes available. The evidence is now clear that Elon Musk is not a fit and proper person to be a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Photo credit Steve Jurvetson via Flickr