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The Scientist Who Wasn't There: A true story of staggering deception
WINNER OF THE BRIDPORT PRIZE FOR MEMOIR
What would you do to find out the truth about someone you love? A forensic, propulsive book about the line between fact and fiction.
Renowned scientist Professor Michael Briggs was many
A Space expert at NASA
An adviser to the World Health Organisation
A successful Big Pharma executive
But Michael Briggs had a secret.
A scandal broke out in 1986 when research he conducted was revealed to be compromised. Patients were also claiming that a pregnancy test he pioneered had caused devastating birth defects. Soon after his fall from grace, Briggs was dead, struck down by a mystery illness in a foreign country
Briggs left behind a long list of publications, patents, and inventions. But he also left behind hundreds of people who believe they are victims of his negligence and who are still fighting for justice to this day.
And he left someone his daughter, Joanne. After decades of wondering who her father really was, Joanne decided to investigate for herself. In hypnotic prose, she uncovers the secret that shaped her father's entire life and made his story more fantastic than any science fiction. As she discovered, Briggs's greatest invention was himself.
What would you do to find out the truth about someone you love? A forensic, propulsive book about the line between fact and fiction.
Renowned scientist Professor Michael Briggs was many
A Space expert at NASA
An adviser to the World Health Organisation
A successful Big Pharma executive
But Michael Briggs had a secret.
A scandal broke out in 1986 when research he conducted was revealed to be compromised. Patients were also claiming that a pregnancy test he pioneered had caused devastating birth defects. Soon after his fall from grace, Briggs was dead, struck down by a mystery illness in a foreign country
Briggs left behind a long list of publications, patents, and inventions. But he also left behind hundreds of people who believe they are victims of his negligence and who are still fighting for justice to this day.
And he left someone his daughter, Joanne. After decades of wondering who her father really was, Joanne decided to investigate for herself. In hypnotic prose, she uncovers the secret that shaped her father's entire life and made his story more fantastic than any science fiction. As she discovered, Briggs's greatest invention was himself.
- GenresNonfictionMemoir
282 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 5, 2025
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144 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 21, 2025
Extraordinary happenings!
This book was fascinating. I was gripped - an extraordinary journey into her father's working life, Joanne asks question after question because things don't quite add up. "Why was he employed by NASA?" "Why did Mum get ill?". I gave my husband an update each evening, "guess what he's done now..." Extraordinary happenings! I loved the conversations between Joanne and her brother, beautifully written.
This book was fascinating. I was gripped - an extraordinary journey into her father's working life, Joanne asks question after question because things don't quite add up. "Why was he employed by NASA?" "Why did Mum get ill?". I gave my husband an update each evening, "guess what he's done now..." Extraordinary happenings! I loved the conversations between Joanne and her brother, beautifully written.
August 11, 2025
Was interesting until last 20 pages then author went down some sci fi bleck hole and kept quoting ray bradbury and went a bit off the page , could have mad emore of the ending of her father and removed the continbual re hashing of certainthemes that were rpreated unnecessarily
August 12, 2025
Enjoyed reading the exposure and analysis of what happened and the implications. Remove the padding out of story and it would gain more stars for me.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews