The Scientists
Eleazar Lipsky
Its closest comparison is with Mitchell Wilson’s Live With Lightning which appeared some years ago, and again science, no longer an abstraction, comes down to the level where pride, politics and profit engage in an ugly conflict. So it proves to be when Dave, a young scientist at a small American university, is challenged by Victor Ullman, the professor in whose laboratory he developed the substance biocin, a commercially and medically valuable discovery. Having assigned the royalties from biocin to the University, through which they had established a Foundation and secured prestige names, Dave- following his marriage to Eva- had later accepted a minimal revenue from the drug, now contested by Ullman. The narrative returns to the past, to the time when Dave, a naive student, at first invested Ullman with a moral and intellectual authority: he was detoured by the older man into other, meaningless until he worked on his own, and alone, on the project which startled the world of science and outraged Ullman. As the weeks now pass, under considerable tension, the faculty -fence-sitting- evades any show of confidence or support while protecting their interests; Dave, willing to make any financial adjustments, cannot concede to Ullman credit for these latter day claims; a first court hearing ends with a diss revelation, as well as Dave’s damaging silence- out of respect for Ullman. But as Dave is reluctantly forced to fight back, the victory is his not without its sense of sullying shame and the lesson learned that men are not always to be judged by their attainments…. Tapped by the Book-of-the-Month for February, this should assure the chances of a solid story which probes the touchy, equivocal relationships between professor and student, industry and research, pure science and pure profits. And the trial, always an effective dramatic device, is well manoeuvered and provides a maximum momentum for the events at hand. ~ Kirkus Reviews
Minor character in a long novel is a vaguely treated, but explicit lesbian.
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Details
| Genre | Fiction |
| Copyright Date | 1959 |
| Publication Date | 1959 |
| Publisher | Cardinal |
| Format | Paperback |
| Language | English |
| Rating | NotRated |
| Original Publisher | Appleton-Century-Crofts |
| Cover Artist | Barye Phillips |
| BookID | 11158 |
