What do all the great explorers of the past have in common? They pushed the boundaries of our knowledge and opened up new horizons. This required intelligence and financial resources, as well as strong will and courage. Because they had to contend with the prevailing mindsets of their time. All this applied not only to her research work, but in many cases to her personal life as well. More precisely: when it came to their sexual orientation.
The most famous example is probably Alan Turing, who is considered by many to be the father of modern computers and artificial intelligence. He was born in England in 1912 and completed his mathematical education at King’s College London. As a young genius, he was already solving some of the toughest problems of his time, and at the age of 24 he developed the Turing machine that bears his name. This is a mathematical computer model that works according to certain rules. In other words, he is a perfect abstraction of the theoretical software that he formalized before the first computer was built. He later formulated the Turing test, named after him, which is still used today to determine whether a computer has human-equivalent thinking abilities. A very relevant topic in the modern world of artificial intelligence!
The myth of Snow White and the Apple
At the age of 40, Turing was tried and found guilty of homosexual relations. When the only choice was between prison and chemical castration, he agreed to hormonal treatment. Turing died two years later. According to legend, he bit off a cyanide apple and committed suicide.
John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946), another well-known homosexual, worked at the same King’s College London a few years earlier. The English economist is now considered one of the most influential economists of the last century. He is best known for reinventing macroeconomics by transforming the economic policies of every government. Keynes spoke openly about his homosexuality and love affairs. Some political opponents took advantage of this to attack his scientific work. No success. He later became Principal of King’s College. Later in life, he discovered his bisexual side and eventually fell in love with the Russian ballerina Lidia Lopokova, whom he married.
This year’s Nobel Prizes
Current Nobel Prize winner in medicine Svante Paabo (67) has received recognition for using DNA sequences to understand humanity’s past. For example, he found that we bred with Neanderthals before they died out, and that many of us still carry Neanderthal genes. Some of them even make us vulnerable to severe Covid-19 illnesses. But he also discovered new, unknown ancestors, the Denisovans. In his book Neanderthal Man: In Search of the Lost Genomes, Paabo explains that he considers himself bisexual and has long considered himself homosexual.
The same applies to another 2022 Nobel Prize winner, Carolyn Bertozzi (56). She received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her development of bioorthogonal reactions. These are chemical processes that can be carried out in living cells without disturbing the system. This opens up huge opportunities for drug development. Bertozzi is openly gay and is a role model for many students and colleagues in the academic world.
Pioneer in transgender people and computer chips
Lynn Conway (85) is an American computer scientist who worked for IBM and started a revolution in chip design and manufacturing in the early 1980s. Conway says he never felt like a man. However, she was only able to change her gender when medical options were available to do so. She was previously married to a woman and had two children. Unfortunately, after the operation, she was initially denied access to her children and was fired from IBM (an official apology from IBM did not come until 2020).
Of course, there are many other great minds whose sexuality deviated from the norms of their time, such as the famous philosophical duo Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) and Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) or Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1986). 1951). And even being a heterosexual woman with multiple lovers has long been taboo! The greatest genius in this sense was probably Emilie du Chatelet (1706–1749). The French physicist, mathematician and philosopher studied optics and mechanics, translated the works of Isaac Newton (1643-1727) into French. She was the first woman whose scientific work was published by the Académie française. In her personal life, she always loved the French writer Voltaire (1694–1778), with whom she remained close throughout her life.
New approaches, new influences
My message is clear: in order to stimulate scientific progress and have a positive impact on society, research must become even more open and diverse. History makes it clear that the most innovative and pioneering research is often the result of bold, out-of-the-box thinking. This requires an environment that encourages creativity and allows for multiple perspectives. This is the only way to find new approaches.
Science is based on problem solving and collaboration. Thus, a variety of approaches is more likely to lead to new discoveries. Therefore, it is extremely important to involve researchers of all sexual and cultural orientations in scientific research.
Discrimination only hinders progress and thereby limits our collective knowledge. Imagine what the world would be like today without the contributions of people like Alan Turing. Discrimination only leads to loss of knowledge.
Mirko Bischofberger is a molecular biologist, filmmaker and former head of communications at EPFL.