Boneheads and Brainiacs: Heroes and Scoundrels of the Nobel Prize in Medicine

by Moira Dolan

Even the greatest minds in medicine have been terribly, terribly wrong.

The inventor of the lobotomy won a Nobel prize in medicine for destroying his patients' brains. Another Nobel laureate thought malaria cured syphilis. The discoverer of anaphylactic shock also researched the spirit world and ESP. A pioneer of organ transplants was an ardent eugenicist, while the founder of sports physiology heroically spoke out against Nazism.

Boneheads and Brainiacs profiles the winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine from 1901 to 1950—a surprisingly diverse group of racists, cranks, and opportunists, as well as heroes, geniuses, and selfless benefactors of humanity. Forget all the ivory tower stereotypes of white-coated doctors finding miracle cures. Boneheads and Brainiacs reveals the messy human reality behind medical progress, in a highly entertaining book written for the ordinary reader.

Some were bad scientists; others were great scientists and lousy human beings. But the majority of these researchers produced knowledge that now saves millions of lives—priceless discoveries like the role of vitamins in nutrition, the dangers of radiation, treatments for diabetes and deadly infectious diseases, and more. Boneheads and Brainiacs showcases the enthralling, all-too-human personal lives that made modern medicine possible.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science

262 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 10, 2020

Reviews

[David Sweeney-Bear · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have had the immense pleasure of reading this book in preparation for narrating the Audiobook.
This meticulously researched and beautifully presented book by Moira Dolan is a real gem. At times funny, at times horrific it charts the history of the first 50 years of the Nobel Prize in medicine and the many and varied characters that won it.
Moira Dolan gives a fascinating account of the lives, characters and achievements of these well-known public figures in a unique style that really captures their characters, motivations and idiosyncrasies.
Looking forward to book 2!

[Eleanor Belle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic, easy to understand summary of the Nobel medicine prize winners from 1900 - 1950. I love learning every second of it.

[Fern Herold · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book creeps up on you, and not in a good way. It’s a series of biographical sketches of Nobel Prize winners, focusing on both their discoveries and the moral and ethical issues surrounding them. There’s a lot of discussion about who actually did what work, and how the Nobel Committee doled out credit, whether they did so correctly nor not. That’s not the problem with the book. The problem is that the author has some seriously fringe medical views, which are revealed in bits and pieces throughout. Her overall tone of vaccine skepticism, based on her claim that infectious diseases were becoming less dangerous throughout the 20th century, is worrisome. Her support of colored light therapy is quackery. And she claims that psychiatry has “ridden on the coattails of legitimate medicine”, that the biomedical model of mental health is a scam and the DSM is an “eight hundred page billing manual”. Yikes.

[Kaylee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved learning more about this "illustrious" history -- so many terrible humans have won! I found myself cheering when A. V. Hill came around since he seems like the first not-asshole to have won.

I also loved how the book very clearly lays out how small-minded the award committee was - at least in the first 50 years. (We'll see what the next 25 look like when I crack open that book!) Truly so much about favoritism; kudos to the Nobel folks for spinning it into a PR golden child, I guess.

[Bogdan · Rating 5 out of 5]

+One of those fun, easy to read books. The author displays information on various aspects.
It shows how even Nobel prizers also have human weaknesses such as greed, haughtiness, wickedness, and so on. That is it puts these people from a pedestal into bright light.
-I feel the author sometimes stamps too many things as "racist"(eg Spaniard)