An Imagined World: A Story of Scientific Discovery

In 'An Imagined World' June Goodfield follows Anna, a medical researcher, and her colleagues for several years as they struggle with questions about lymphocytes, immunodeficiency, and the role of iron in all this. The research described here takes place from 1975 to 1980 although Goodfeld does give us some background on Anna and how she became interested in the lymphocytes.

The scientists are somewhat anonymous as they wished their names to be changed in this account of the highs and lows, both professional and personal. There were periods of exciting progress and others of disappointments and tedious repetition of their experiments. One recurring disappointment was the grant applications that kept coming back as 'scientifically sound show more but unfunded' so that 'Anna' and her group never were sure if they would have results before their money ran out. An interesting look at the process of science, and, since the author is a historian of science, the details are not too hard for the nonspecialist to follow.

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