The Baltimore Case – A Trial of Politics, Science & Character: A Trial of Politics, Science, and Character - Hardcover

Kevles, Daniel J

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393041034 ISBN 13: 9780393041033

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 1998

Synopsis

David Baltimore won the Nobel Prize for medicine at the age of 37. A leading researcher and respected public figure, in 1990 he was made president of Rockefeller University. Less that 18 months later, he resigned amid allegations of fraud. Daniel Kevles' investigation of what became known as The Baltimore Case reveals a witch-hunt in which Baltimore and Thereza Imanishi-Kari, former colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, were unjustly accused and vilified in the name of scientific integrity and public trust. While never accused of wrong doing, Baltimore staunchly defended the work and integrity of Imanish-Kari when her findings came under attack from a post-doctoral fellow, Margot O'Toole, whom Imanishi-Kari had hired to work in her laboratory. Kevles explanation of why he thought Imanishi-Kari to be innocent appeared in an article in "The New Yorker" in May 1996. In June of that year she was finally exonerated. Kevles also raises broader questions of about the way science works and about the complex discord between the public's right to accountability and the scientist's need for autonomy in the laboratory.

About this title

Review:

...Kevles' book is a public service as well as a brave experiment in contemporary history. -- The Times Literary Supplement

...essential reading...a fascinating and beautifully written tale. -- The Times Higher Education Supplement

In all the millions of words expended on the Baltimore case, Kevles' are the last and most convincing. -- The Independent

[An] important and well-written book. -- New Scientist

From the Publisher:

Chosen by The Independent as a Book of the Year, 1998.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0393041034
• ISBN 13: 9780393041033
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 510