Given a choice between dinner with Olympic swimmer Joseph Schooling or Dr Stephen Hawking, 44 per cent of Singaporeans would choose to dine with the renowned scientist and cosmologist.

This was a finding in a survey conducted by applied sciences multinational corporation 3M, on global perceptions of science.

About 1,000 Singaporeans took part in the survey, which was conducted from June to August last year.

The study also polled 13,000 people from 13 other developed and developing countries including China, India and the United States.

Respondents were asked who among two pairs of people they would rather dine with, with each pair comprising one pop culture star from their country and one celebrity scientist.

Although 40 per cent of respondents picked a mix of both, 32 per cent chose only the scientists.