Apprentice to Genius: The Making of a Scientific Dynasty

by Robert Kanigel

Book Overview

From the author of the best-selling The Man Who Knew Infinity, comes an unprecedented look at the traditional master-apprentice relationship alive today in modern science. Robert Kanigel takes us into the heady world of a remarkable group of scientists working at the National Institutes of Health and the Johns Hopkins University: a dynasty of American researchers who for more than forty years have made Nobel Prize-and Lasker Award-winning breakthroughs...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801847575
• ISBN13: 9780801847578
• Release Date: November 1993
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 8.5" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

A must read for all aspiring scientists

This book was entertaining and germane to all aspiring and current scientists. Your scientific geneology will take on a new meaning and you will never be so proud to work in a field with curresnt mentor-apprintice relationships. After reading this book I found out that through my mentor, I am distantly related to Anne Frued!

A monumental work on scientifc mentoring!

How many books are there which talk about scientific mentoring? So very few. This book gives vivid portraits of how top-flight scientists pass down their "research genes" by mentoring their apprentices. This book gives the readers the inside look of the research lives of these prominent scientists and their disciples. Of course, not all things are glorious, but throughout the book, the author brought out the theme again and again that mentoring is essential to the producing of next generation of outstanding achievers. This book should be read by every bright and ambitious graduate student and postdoc. Do you want to achieve greatness? Do you want to learn how to do great research? Attach yourself to a great scientist! Julius Axelrod, the 1970 Nobel Laureate, has a saying: "99% of the discoveries are made by 1% of the scientists." Sociologist Harriet Zuckerman reported that the single factor that most clearly differentiated Nobel laureates from outstanding but lesser scientists was training with another Nobel laureate. Thus, the importance of mentoring cannot be overstated for a young budding scientist! This book should be read by every top scientist in the world. Your legacy lies not just in your individual achievement, but also in passing down your "research genes" to the next generation and thus greatly magnifying your legacy. The author should be applauded for such a monumental work!

Scientific excellence is inheritable!

Several years ago, my former mentor circulated this book in the lab. Until quite recently, my friends still found me quoting from it while talking about scientific ideas. Now, after reading the book for many times, and studying the characteristics of great mentors around me, I conclude that it's a marvelous book. Anyone who plan to have a bright scientific career should read this book. My only dissatisfaction is the book is so old. I demand a new edition or a sequel! And, I want more examples of such lineage of excellent scientists as described in the book.Surely, it's book that I will share with my student.

An excellent look at how mentoring in academics works.....

While seemingly on a mundane and complicated subject (pharmacology and its researchers), it is an easy read for any layman and very, very interesting (especially on the topic of malaria medications and their discovery and problems)... Very interesting how hitching your star to the right person can make your career...and how pettiness and back-stabbing can be so cruel and counterproductive... A very, very good read for anyone even remotely interested in science...