Book Review: The Nobel Duel
A cautionary tale about competition in science
My review of The Nobel Duel is out today in Asimov Press:
This is the story of two scientists who started out as colleagues but were driven to bitter rivalry. Why did this feud happen, and how can we learn from it today? Read the review to find out!
Behind the Scenes
I started writing this review in 2022, after learning about The Nobel Duel at the Frontiers in Reproduction course (Prof. Stephen Hammes mentioned it to me). At the time, both Schally and Guillemin were still alive! I worked on the review off and on for nearly 3 years. It’s a rather complex story, and I went down a lot of scientific rabbit holes in the process (such as looking into 1960s peptide purification methods).
Overall, I think the main lesson I learned is that the rivalry between Schally and Guillemin was avoidable. In other words, their “winner takes all” scientific environment was a necessary component of the rivalry, but by itself it wasn’t sufficient. After all, plenty of other endocrinologists didn’t have massive feuds. The rivalry was really driven by the combination of the scientific environment with the personalities and communication styles of the two men. If Schally and Guillemin had had a candid conversation in 1961 and agreed to work in separate areas (or, less likely, to work as equal partners), the whole feud would have never happened.
So today, if you’re feeling like someone isn’t giving you credit for your work, or is being unfair to you, reach out and talk to them before things escalate too far. Of course, this may not work, but it’s better than sending nasty letters (or these days, emails or tweets) back and forth. There will always be competition in science, but duels can be avoided.