Research Catalog

Title

Happy accidents : serendipity in modern medical breakthroughs / Morton A. Meyers.

Author

Meyers, Morton A.

Publication

New York : Arcade Pub., [2007], ©2007.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xiv, 390 pages : illustrations; 25 cm

Subject

• Medicine > History
• Medical innovations > History
• Discoveries in science
• Serendipity
• History of Medicine
• History, 20th Century
• Incidental Findings
• Research
• Science > history
• Serendipiteit
• Ontdekkingen
• Geneeskunde

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [323]-373) and index.

Contents

Introduction : serendipity, science's well-guarded secret -- Pt. I. The dawn of a new era : infectious diseases and antibiotics, the miracle drugs -- 1. How Antony's little animals led to the development of germ theory -- 2. The new science of bacteriology -- 3. Good chemistry -- 4. The art of dyeing -- 5. Mold, glorious mold -- 6. Pay dirt -- 7. The mysterious protein from Down Under -- 8. "This ulcer 'bugs' me!" -- Pt. II. The smell of garlic launches the war on cancer -- 9. Tragedy at Bari -- 10. Antagonists to cancer -- 11. Veni, Vidi, Vinca : the healing power of periwinkle -- 12. A heavy metal rocks : the value of platinum -- 13. Sex hormones -- 14. Angiogenesis : the birth of blood vessels -- 15. Aspirin kills more than pain -- 16. Thalidomide : from tragedy to hope -- 17. A sick chicken leads to the discovery of cancer-accelerating genes -- 18. A contaminated vaccine leads to cancer-braking genes -- 19. From where it all stems -- 20. The industrialization of research and the war on cancer -- 21. Lessons learned -- Pt. III. A quivering quartz string penetrates the mystery of the heart -- 22. An unexpected phenomenon : it's electric! -- 23. What a catheter can do -- 24. "Dottering" -- 25. A stitch in time -- 26. The Nobel committee says yes to NO -- 27. "It's not you, honey, it's NO" -- 28. What's your number? -- 29. Thinning the blood -- Pt. IV. The flaw lies in the chemistry, not the character : mood-stabilizing drugs, antidepressants, and other psychotropics -- 30. It began with a dream -- 31. Mental straitjackets : shocking approaches -- 32. Ice-pick psychiatry -- 33. Lithium -- 34. Thorazine -- 35. Your town, my town, Miltown! -- 36. Conquering the "beast" of depression -- 37. Librium and valium -- 38. "That's funny, I have the same bug!" -- 39. LSD -- Conclusion : taking a chance on chance : cultivating serendipity.

ISBN

• 9781559708197 (alk. paper)
• 1559708190 (alk. paper)

LCCN

2006100551

OCLC

• ocm76902037
• 76902037
• SCSB-5403000

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries