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 allegations of 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.
Introduction
PART I
Recognition, Reward, and Stolen Credit: A Universal Outrage
The Art of Science
Staking the Claim
The Dark Side of Science
PART II
"Drop Everything!"
The Star Pupil Shock Wave in Academia
"This Shameful Wrong Must Be Righted!"
The Race Is On
The Sound and the Fury
Obsession
Picking the Winner
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Selected Bibliography
Morton A. Meyers, MD is Distinguished University Professor and Emeritus Chair of the Department of Radiology in the School of Medicine SUNY, Stony Brook, USA. He is the author of the seminal textbook on abdominal radiology (now in its sixth edition) that has been translated into Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, and Portuguese editions and has worldwide sales total over 50,000, and is the founding editor in chief of the international journal Abdominal Imaging. The author of Happy Accidents: Serendipity in Modern Medical Breakthroughs, he lives in Stonybrook, New York.
"Politicians and financiers are hardly the only professionals whose psychic flaws may propel them into the stratosphere. Men and women of science routinely fly high with the same fuel, despite various professional codes and the invariable assertion that they do what they do for the lasting benefit of mankind. In Prize Fight, Dr. Morton A. Meyers presents a comprehensive catalog of the inglorious behaviors provoked by this love of others."
– The New York Times
"Meyers analyzes how credit has been doled out in major scientific discoveries, including the creation of MRI and the development of streptomycin, the first antibiotic against tuberculosis. Readers come away with an enhanced understanding of the conflicting impulses that drive scientists and of the historical context behind present-day research scandals."
– Scientific American, Recommended Books
"Meyers' perceptive book will engage readers interested in the ethics and emotions of scientific research."
– Booklist
"This book helps keep scientists honest."
– Library Journal
"The first book to examine the prevalence of disputes over recognition and reward in modern science."
– Robert Root-Bernstein, author of Spark of Genius
"Meyers brings personal knowledge of one of medicine's longest running feuds to illuminate an area of science that often seems more dominated by the politics of power than by the excitement of discovery."
– Sharon McGrayne, author of The Theory That Would Not Die
"This well-written book includes a series of eye-opening case studies of acrimonious conflicts over credit for scientific discoveries."
– James E. Till, Albert Lasker Award winner for the codiscovery of stem cells
"A thought-provoking examination of the political side of high-stakes science."
– Kirkus Reviews
"Scientists behave very badly indeed in this bracing polemic about endemic theft, fraud, and greed in the hallowed halls of science."
– John Seabrook, New Yorker staff writer