Dr Matt Taylor, the European Space Agency's project scientist on the Comet 67P mission. [photo: YouTube]

A female tech writer has received abuse and death threats on Twitter after criticising the sexist shirt worn by a scientist involved in this week's Philae comet landing.

Matt Taylor - a scientist from the European Space Agency's Rosetta Project, which successfully landed a space probe on the comet 67P on Wednesday morning, following a decade-long mission - drew online criticism after he was interviewed wearing a shirt with naked women on it.

"No no women are toooootally welcome in our community, just ask the dude in this shirt," Rose Eveleth - a tech and science journalist for The Atlantic - wrote on Twitter, referencing the wide gender divide in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) industries.

No no women are toooootally welcome in our community, just ask the dude in this shirt. https://t.co/r88QRzsqAm pic.twitter.com/XmhHKrNaq5 — Rose Eveleth (@roseveleth) November 12, 2014


Other Tweeters similarly voiced their concerns over Taylor's shirt, using the hashtags #Shirtgate and #Shirtstorm, with astrophysicist Katie Mack calling it "inappropriate for a broadcast if you care about women in STEM".

I don't care what scientists wear. But a shirt featuring women in lingerie isn't appropriate for a broadcast if you care about women in STEM — Katie Mack (@AstroKatie) November 12, 2014

Pretty exciting science going down. Pretty typical science struggles, too. #shirtgate — realscientists (@realscientists) November 12, 2014