The Private Science of Louis Pasteur
Gerald L. Geison

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ADDITIONAL REVIEWS:

"In revealing . . . discrepancies between Pasteur's private activities and the accounts he subsequently published of those activities, Geison's aim is not to discredit Pasteur or his contributions to science. On the contrary, he gives full credit to Pasteur's brilliance as an experimenter. But he also makes clear the extent to which Pasteur's public reputation depended not just on his ability to manipulate his experimental materials in the laboratory, but also on his ability to control and manipulate the information that issued from his laboratory."--Steve Sturdy, Medical History

"Geison has discovered that Pasteur's two most famous experiments were tainted by lies and scientific, if not moral, misconduct. The author's deconstruction of the Pasteur myth is not an attempt to discredit the man or his works but to present the unadorned truth. Well written and scholarly, with extensive notes and bibliography, this book is highly recommended."--Library Journal

"Realities of the creative process, scientific method, research ethics, personalities and politics are confronted in this weighty reappraisal of Pasteur's pioneering work. . . . this work of historical scholarship touches on many human issues ever pertinent in scientific research."--Publishers Weekly

"[Geison's] deconstruction of the Pasteur myth is not an attempt to discredit the man or his works but to present the unadorned truth. Well written and scholarly, with extensive notes and bibliography, this book is highly recommended."--Library Journal

"It is to Geison's considerable credit that, in telling this story and documenting Pasteur's human failings along the way, he recounts a record of insight, confidence and certainty on core essentials that still amounts to genius."--Bernard Dixon, New Scientist

"With magisterial scholarship, Geison presents incisive accounts of Pasteur's research . . . the book is largely structured around instances of Pasteur's 'unsavory' behavior and Geison's explanations do little to soften the image of Pasteur as a ruthlessly ambitious and competitive operator."--Social History of Medicine

"A very good book . . . adds extraordinary nuance to the biographical portrait of Pasteur."--Christopher Dornan, The Globe and Mail

"A meticulous biography of one of the grandest figures in the history of science. . . . Gerald Geison , the author of this splendid biography, . . . makes Pasteur in many ways worthier of our admiration than the saintly figure of legend was."--The Economist

"Gerald Geison has been studying Pasteur for more than two decades. . . . [He] shows that there are intriguing discrepancies between Pasteur's private science and public utterances. . . . In Geison's hands, Pasteur is shown to have been a consummate publicist and showman . . . the perfect anti-hero for out anti-heroic age."--W. F. Bynum, Nature

"The Pasteur who emerges from these pages is a creative, even brilliant, scientist but a distinctly unattractive human being. . . . [Geison] provides a far more interesting and generally persuasive view of Pasteur's work than the earlier, more flattering accounts. . . . Geison's controversial but stunning biography raises many important questions about the nature of science, past and present. . . . It requires us to reevaluate our heroes and consider the complexities of science as it is actually created instead of merely clinging to comforting and heroic myths. Elegantly written, beautifully produced, and very reasonably priced."--Elizabeth Fee, Ph.D., The New England Journal of Medicine

"This marvelous and fascinating scientific biography is indispensable in understanding Pasteur's life and research."--Choice

"This book provides a fascinating and detailed account of much of Pasteur's life and of French science in the last century.... What this life of Pasteur shows is how complex, hard and imaginative scientific discovery is, and that it requires a variety of skills rarely found in one person."--New York Times Book Review

ADDITIONAL ENDORSEMENTS:

"The most original account of Pasteur's science and his personality to appear. . . . a remarkable example of judicious, balanced scholarly treatment of very difficult issues. This book will be of great interest both within and outside the scholarly fields from which it emerges."--Frederic L. Holmes, Yale University

"This book is a scientific biography at its best. With a fine sense of judgment, clear exposition, and the sophistication of the seasoned scholar, Professor Geison has produced a tour-de-force. Unswayed by the extremes of social construction or the prejudices of an animus against science, he has nevertheless revealed the nature of the Pastorian legend and has traced out the manner of its construction. Pasteur emerges still the skillful experimentalist, but also a bold combatant, versed in the art of oratory, and so secretive about his day-to-day work that until his laboratory notebooks became available recently it was impossible to check the myths that have made the legend."--Robert Olby, University of Pittsburgh

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File created: 11/5/2009

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