When Professor Isidore Cantor reveals his latest breakthrough in cancer research, the scientific community is galvanized. Cantor's most promising research fellow, Dr. Jeremiah Stafford, has only to conduct the experiment that will prove the brilliant hypothesis and win Cantor the Nobel Prize. But how far will the young assistant go to guarantee the results?
Carl Djerassi draws from his long career as a world-famous scientist to describe the fierce competition driving scientific super-stars in this gripping and suspenseful novel.
"A brilliant tale of the morals and politics of contemporary science. Exciting, moving, and brilliantly written."-Iris Murdoch
"A fly-on-the-lab-wall look at the way big-time science is practiced today."-The Washington Post Book World

Carl Djerassi is an internationally renowned scientist whose books include the novel Marx, Deceased; his autobiography The Pill, Pygmy Chimps, and Degas' Horse; essay, poetry, and short-story collections and two plays. A professor of chemistry at Stanford University, he is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and is one of the few American scientists to have been awarded both the National Medal of Science and the National Medal of Technology.