Legal Niches

Game Hawking Anti-Game Scientist Fired

By pete_gallagher

British scientist Baroness Susan Greenfield has been unceremoniously dumped from her post as head of the British Royal Institution.

The outspoken Greenfield has provided a lot of fodder for UK tabloids over the years, taking shots at videogames (claiming they slow maturity), computers and social websites (they harm children's brains).

Her denouncement of videogames was especially confusing, in light of her personally endorsing a series of brain-training games.

The Times Online on Greenfield:

Her unconventional approach to courting publicity, however, has annoyed as many scientists as it attracts, some of whom claim that her talent for self-promotion outweighs her scientific credentials.

The Royal Institution says Greenfield was sacked due to the fact that it could no longer afford a full-time director in light of recent funding problems.

Ben Goldacre's blog has more on the Baroness and how exactly she confounded critics over the years.

Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on January 13, 2010 (boomark / email).