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The Strange Case of the Spotted Mice and Other Classic Essays on Science Sir Peter Medawar

The Strange Case of the Spotted Mice and Other Classic Essays on Science By Sir Peter Medawar

The Strange Case of the Spotted Mice and Other Classic Essays on Science by Sir Peter Medawar


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Summary

This selection presents the best of the popular science writing of Sir Peter Medawar. He was not only a prize-winning immunologist, but also a noted writer about science and scientists.

The Strange Case of the Spotted Mice and Other Classic Essays on Science Summary

The Strange Case of the Spotted Mice and Other Classic Essays on Science by Sir Peter Medawar

Sir Peter Medawar was not only a Nobel prize-winning immunologist but also a wonderful writer about science and scientists. Described by the Washington Post as a `genuinely brilliant popularizer' of science, his essays are remarkable for their clarity and wit. This entertaining selection presents the very best of his writing with a new Foreword by Stephen Jay Gould, one of his greatest admirers. The wide range of subjects include Howard Florey and penicillin, J. B. S. Haldane, whom he describes as a `with-knobs-on variant of us all', and, in the title essay, scientific fraud involving laboratory mice. There is Medawar's defence of James Watson against the storm of criticism that greeted the publication of The Double Helix. A merciless debunker of myths, he reveals the nonsense to be discovered in psychoanalytic interpretations of Darwin's illness and launches devastating attacks on Arthur Koestler, IQ psychologists, and, most notably, Teilhard de Chardin. He raises questions about the nature of scientific endeavour - he famously defined science as the art of the soluble - and a common theme is his desire to communicate the importance of science to the widest possible audience.

The Strange Case of the Spotted Mice and Other Classic Essays on Science Reviews

Medawar on anything means genuine profundity, elegance and above all, joy. * Roy Herbert, New Scientist *

About Sir Peter Medawar

Sir Peter Medawar, OM, 1915-87, was born in Rio de Janeiro and educated at Magdalen College, Oxford. He began research in H. W. Florey's department at Oxford in the early days of the development of penicillin. After professorships at Birmingham and University College London, he became Director of the National Institute for Medical Research. His scientific reputation is based mainly on his research in immunology, which helped make transplant surgery possible. In 1960 he won the Nobel Prize for Medicine for his work on tissue transplantation. Elected to the Royal Society at the age of 34, he was also a Fellow of the British Academy - a rare honour for a scientist. Sir Peter wrote a number of books for a general audience, including Pluto's Republic (1982), The Limits of Science (1985), and Aristotle to Zoos (1983, with Jean Medawar). A further collection of his essays, The Threat and the Glory (1990), was published after his death.

Additional information

GOR001340221
9780192861931
019286193X
The Strange Case of the Spotted Mice and Other Classic Essays on Science by Sir Peter Medawar
Used - Very Good
Paperback
Oxford University Press
19960404
256
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

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