THE “dark side” of scientific research is the focus of US physician Morton Meyers’s enjoyable, if disquieting, book Prize Fight. More particularly, the Machiavellian behaviour that inevitably arises from scientists’ desire for recognition and reward – especially a Nobel prize – alongside the more publicly acceptable satisfaction of discovering and applying ground-breaking knowledge. Think James Watson’s famed account of discovering the structure of DNA, The Double Helix.
“Machiavellian behaviour inevitably arises from scientists’ desire for recognition and reward”
While innovation in science is generally seen as a force for good, it too often comes at a high price – in…
