Prize fight - bookrastinating.com

English language

Published Dec. 4, 2012 by Palgrave Macmillan.

ISBN:: 978-0-230-33890-6

"We often think of scientists as dispassionate and detached, nobly laboring without any expectation of reward. But scientific research is much more complicated and messy than this ideal, and scientists can be torn by jealousy, impelled by a need for recognition, and subject to human vulnerability and fallibility. In Prize Fight, Emeritus Chair at SUNY School of Medicine Morton Meyers pulls back the curtain to reveal the dark side of scientific discovery. From stolen authorship to fabricated results and elaborate hoaxes, he shows us how too often brilliant minds are reduced to petty jealousies and promising careers cut short by disputes over authorship or fudged data. Prize Fight is a dramatic look at some of the most notable discoveries in science in recent years, from the discovery of insulin, which led to decades of infighting and even violence, to why the 2003 Nobel Prize in Medicine exposed how often scientific …

"We often think of scientists as dispassionate and detached, nobly laboring without any expectation of reward. But scientific research is much more complicated and messy than this ideal, and scientists can be torn by jealousy, impelled by a need for recognition, and subject to human vulnerability and fallibility. In Prize Fight, Emeritus Chair at SUNY School of Medicine Morton Meyers pulls back the curtain to reveal the dark side of scientific discovery. From stolen authorship to fabricated results and elaborate hoaxes, he shows us how too often brilliant minds are reduced to petty jealousies and promising careers cut short by disputes over authorship or fudged data. Prize Fight is a dramatic look at some of the most notable discoveries in science in recent years, from the discovery of insulin, which led to decades of infighting and even violence, to why the 2003 Nobel Prize in Medicine exposed how often scientific objectivity is imperiled. "--

1 edition

Doc Kinne reviewed Prize fight by Morton A. Meyers

Review of 'Prize fight' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

This book is actually better than the 3/5 stars that I'm giving it. For me, it gets 3/5 stars because its a heavily medically-based book, and medicine is not my field. For those who follow medicine on a non-professional level, I think this book will be a real treat.

The book deals with the darker passions of the human experience as they portray themselves in high-level science competition. High level science competition? How is science competitive, some might ask? People sometimes have an impression that its usually the scientists against nature as they try to pry the secrets out of the Universe, but this book graphically lays open the human competitiveness involved at both the highest level and its worst. Mainly using two example - the race to develop streptomycin, and who should get credit for MRI technology - the book follows and examines the history behind incidents like this …

This book is actually better than the 3/5 stars that I'm giving it. For me, it gets 3/5 stars because its a heavily medically-based book, and medicine is not my field. For those who follow medicine on a non-professional level, I think this book will be a real treat.

The book deals with the darker passions of the human experience as they portray themselves in high-level science competition. High level science competition? How is science competitive, some might ask? People sometimes have an impression that its usually the scientists against nature as they try to pry the secrets out of the Universe, but this book graphically lays open the human competitiveness involved at both the highest level and its worst. Mainly using two example - the race to develop streptomycin, and who should get credit for MRI technology - the book follows and examines the history behind incidents like this as controversy - in these two cases, unprecedented legal controversy - questions who should have gotten credit for what, when.

While the book largely concentrates on these incidents, which makes sense because Meyers has a medical background, I was happy he mentioned other examples as well, including Jocelyn Bell's problem being recognized as the discoverer of the pulsar in astronomical circles.

The writing and storytelling mechanics are solid and professional, if not sparkling. There are no turns of phrase, or distinctive styling, that I'll remember from this book, its certainly not boring.

To a general science reader, again, this book gains 3/5. To a science reader with a specialization in the medical area, however, it at least gains another star.

Subjects

Moral and ethical aspects
SCIENCE / General
Psychology
Scientists
SCIENCE / History
Professional relationships
Research