Sir Andre Geim said that Sir Tim had been 'crucified' by ideological fanatics

Eight Nobel prizewinners have come to the defence of Sir Tim Hunt, the scientist caught up in a sexism row after his comments on the “trouble with girls” in laboratories.

The distinguished group has warned of a chilling effect on leading academics’ freedom to speak their minds after Sir Tim was forced to resign his honorary professorship at University College London in the face of widespread pressure last week from social media users.

Sir Andre Geim, of the University of Manchester, who shared the Nobel prize for physics in 2010, said that Sir Tim had been “crucified” by ideological fanatics, and castigated UCL for “ousting him” from his post.

A senior colleague of Sir Tim’s wife Mary Collins, who is a professor of immunology