The Controversial Story of the Scientist Who Made an Important Discovery and Claims It Was His Boss Who Won the Nobel Prize

After studying fruit flies for years, Bruno Lemaître made a discovery. However, he is not among the main authors of the work.

The French researcher Bruno Lemaître is known for the discoveries he made concerning the fruit fly an insect that has been studied in the laboratory for most of its career.

Actually, He was the one who discovered how genes called Toll-like receptors play a crucial role in your immune system. .

Generally speaking, Lemaître He realized that by removing them, he was no longer able to identify an infection. .

This quickly positioned itself as an important discovery in the community scientist so much so that the discovery was selected as the winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2011.

However, Lemaître is not listed among the main authors, despite the work he has done .

Actually, He accuses his boss at the time who took the credit. and that he has not received all the recognition he deserves.

Currently, the scientist is dedicated to the study of narcissistic personalities and has even published a book on this topic titled An essay on narcissism and science (2016).

In Spanish, translates to “An Essay on Science and Narcissism” .

And although he assures that today he is at peace with what happened, He recently told his story and shared his critical vision of the world of scientific research. on the podcast Outlook by BBC Sounds.

The controversial story of the scientist who made an important discovery and accuses it was his boss who won the Nobel. Photo: Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly).

What the scientist who made the discovery said

Lemaitre said that since arriving in Paris to develop professionally, he has discovered that the environment in universities had “a large number of administrative layers” .

“I discovered that Professors do not necessarily choose the best students or they often hire their wives in the laboratory. . Many cases of favoritism,” he said.

In this sense, he added in the aforementioned broadcast: “Maybe I was very sensitive to that, but I quickly felt that academic research was not a simple quest for knowledge or try to do your best.

With time, was able to join a team of specialists studying fruit flies and I earned a Ph.D.

However, He then entered a laboratory headed by Professor Jules Hoffman .

According to Lemaître, “He studied the immune system of flies, but without being interested in the genetic component” .

“Genetics was my area of ​​knowledge and I knew that genetics had been very effective in understanding other problems. So I fell in love, I said to myself ‘here you can discover something you can find a place to exist.’”

Of course, he emphasized that “We must understand that science always has a collective aspect” .

“You will never be the first person to work on something and there will always be people who influence you. But There’s always room for someone who can compile information in a new way. For me it was about understanding how fruit flies respond to infections using genetics,” he explained.

Thus, he continued his scientific work until I finally found the discovery .

And although he clarified that Toll receptors had already been discovered in Tübingen (Germany) and that “the molecular characterization was carried out by an important woman in the field called Catherine Anderson”, he and his team showed “its role in the immune response” .

Enthusiastic, He reported what they had found to Jules Hoffman, who was responsible for writing the investigation. .

The controversial story of the scientist who made an important discovery and accuses it was his boss who won the Nobel. Photo: Bruno Lemaître / Jules Hoffman.

From what he said in the podcast, “At first I wrote the results with the help of my colleague, but then my boss, who wrote better, played a more important role” .

I appreciated that when you have writing problems, someone can add style to the discovery. it’s important,” added Lemaître.

The work was eventually published in the academic journal cell And attracted the attention of the scientific community .

But more than a decade later, When Lemaitre had already left Hoffman’s laboratory to found his own, it was announced that the latter had won the Nobel Prize. .

The situation disconcerted him, because He wasn’t even listed as one of the main authors .

“We must understand that these awards have a political aspect. By awarding a Nobel to work on fruit flies, They were validating work in the field I was working in, so I was relieved when I heard about the price (…) but at the same time I was frustrated hurt”.

It was because “I felt like I contributed more” than Hoffman.

“He had helped make it visible and had contributed his knowledge to the development of the laboratory,” Lemaitre said, but He assures that in the end it was he who made the discovery .

For its part, Hoffman denied that the aforementioned program appropriated his work, while acknowledging that the discovery was made directly by Lemaitre. .

Furthermore, He remembers mentioning it when he went to receive the award. .

Today, The French scientist works as an academic at a Swiss university and published his book on narcissistic personalities. .

When you have an experience like this, you need to explore other areas of science, like psychology, to understand better. It brings a little peace . And I received part of my recognition despite my frustration,” he emphasized in the podcast.

You can listen to the full program by clicking click on this link .

Source: Latercera

Related articles

Comments

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Share article

Latest articles

Newsletter

Subscribe to stay updated.