The recent controversy over Scientific American's decision to temporarily remove a black scientist’s account of harassment has kicked up another unexpected story: a tale of sexual harassment within its ranks.
In an October 2012 post on her blog, playwright and science writer Monica Byrne described a profoundly uncomfortable meeting with a prominent editor. While ostensibly meeting for business over coffee, the editor steered the conversation to sexual topics and told Byrne “in an awful lot of detail” about a near-affair he’d had with a younger woman. On Monday night, Byrne -- motivated in part by the controversy surrounding biologist Danielle Lee’s account of a nasty email exchange getting pulled, then reinstated by Scientific American -- updated her account, naming Scientific American blogs editor Bora Zivkovic as the man in question.
