The Private Science of Louis Pasteur / / Gerald L. Geison.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton Legacy Lib. eBook Package 1980-1999
• VerfasserIn: Geison, Gerald L.,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2014]; ©1995
• Year of Publication: 2014
• Edition: Course Book
• Language: English
• Series: Princeton Legacy Library ; 306
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (418 p.) :; 27 halftones 26 figs. 6 tables

In The Private Science of Louis Pasteur, Gerald Geison has written a controversial biography that finally penetrates the secrecy that has surrounded much of this legendary scientist's laboratory work. Geison uses Pasteur's laboratory notebooks, made available only recently, and his published papers to present a rich and full account of some of the most famous episodes in the history of science and their darker sides--for example, Pasteur's rush to develop the rabies vaccine and the human risks his haste entailed. The discrepancies between the public record and the "private science" of Louis Pasteur tell us as much about the man as they do about the highly competitive and political world he learned to master.Although experimental ingenuity served Pasteur well, he also owed much of his success to the polemical virtuosity and political savvy that won him unprecedented financial support from the French state during the late nineteenth century. But a close look at his greatest achievements raises ethical issues. In the case of Pasteur's widely publicized anthrax vaccine, Geison reveals its initial defects and how Pasteur, in order to avoid embarrassment, secretly incorporated a rival colleague's findings to make his version of the vaccine work. Pasteur's premature decision to apply his rabies treatment to his first animal-bite victims raises even deeper questions and must be understood not only in terms of the ethics of human experimentation and scientific method, but also in light of Pasteur's shift from a biological theory of immunity to a chemical theory--similar to ones he had often disparaged when advanced by his competitors.Through his vivid reconstruction of the professional rivalries as well as the national adulation that surrounded Pasteur, Geison places him in his wider cultural context. In giving Pasteur the close scrutiny his fame and achievements deserve, Geison's book offers compelling reading for anyone interested in the social and ethical dimensions of science.Originally published in 1995.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations and Tables -- Preface -- PART I. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT -- Chapter One. Laboratory Notebooks and the Private Science of Louis Pasteur -- Chapter Two. Pasteur in Brief -- PART II. FROM CRYSTALS TO LIFE -- Chapter Three. The Emergence of a Scientist The Discovery of Optical Isomers in the Tartrates -- Chapter Four. From Crystals to Life Optical Activity, Fermentation, and Life -- Chapter Five. Creating Life in Nineteenth-Century France Science, Politics, and Religion in the Pasteur- Pouchet Debate over Spontaneous Generation -- PART III. VACCINES, ETHICS, AND SCIENTIFIC VS. MEDICAL MENTALITIES: ANTHRAX AND RABIES -- Chapter Six. The Secret of Pouilly-le-Fort Competition and Deception in the Race for the Anthrax Vaccine -- Chapter Seven. From Boyhood Encounter to "Private Patients" Pasteur and Rabies before the Vaccine -- Chapter Eight. Public Triumphs and Forgotten Critics The Debate over Pasteur's Early Use of Rabies Vaccines in Human Cases -- Chapter Nine. Private Doubts and Ethical Dilemmas Pasteur, Roux, and the Early Human Trials of Pasteur's Rabies Vaccine -- PART IV. THE PASTORIAN MYTH -- Chapter Ten. The Myth of Pasteur -- Appendixes -- Appendix A -- Appendix B -- Appendix C -- Appendix D -- Appendix E -- Appendix F -- Appendix Q -- Appendix H -- Appendix I -- Appendix J -- Appendix K -- Author's Note on Notes and Sources -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- Bibliography -- Index