Where the Truth Lies: Franz Moewus and the Origins of Molecular Biology

by Jan Sapp

This absorbing account of a case of suspected fraud involving the tragic career of the molecular biologist Franz Moewus illustrates all that can go wrong in scientific knowledge-making. The author follows Moewus' meteoric flight among the greatest scientists of the twentieth-century, to his denunciation as the perpetrator of one of the most ambitious cases of fraud in the history of science. He discusses the socio-political issues that helped to bring Moewus' work to the center of great scrutiny in the professional biological science community, how the controversy was sustained for decades, and how it came to a close and was eventually expunged from the history of science. The author reopens this case and writes Moewus into the history of modern science, not in an attempt to vindicate him, but to present the methodological lessons that the controversy reveals to both scientists and science analysts. Arguing against the existence of institutionalized rules and of a universal efficacious scientific method, Professor Sapp demonstrates how what counts as evidence is negotiated by science, and he reveals the difficulties scientists face in objectively testing the validity of scientific results. By likening scientists to storytellers, the author emphasizes the creative nature of science, the rhetorical nature of scientific reports, and the fictitious elements inherent in the construction and maintenance of scientific knowledge-making and knowledge-breaking claims. Undergraduate and graduate students and professional researchers in the history and philosophy of science and experimental biology will find this a thought provoking and informative historical account.

352 pages, Hardcover

First published June 29, 1990

Reviews

[Meha Jadhav · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jan Sapp’s book basically describes the tragic career of Franz Moewus, initially regarded as the founding father of molecular biology and later dismissed as a fraud. The book explores the factors the led to these sad turn of events. Using Moewus’ case as an example, the book uncovers the sociopolitical parts of science and shows that, in the end, scientists too are human. It also describes the concept of fraud and shows that many a times it is difficult to define it and more importantly to prove that it has actually happened.
Along with the Moewus’ case, the book also briefly discusses the story of two founding fathers: Garrod and Mendel. The author highlights the situations that led to these two being regarded as founding fathers. The author reasons that it was not the experiments done by these two but rather the interpretations others made of their studies that were important factors. In fact, Mendel’s results were actually ‘too good’ and rather over simplified and it is suspected that he polished his data. However, that does not seem to have affected him being regarded as the father of genetics.
Personally, I found the book very enlightening. It uncovers a side of science that is seldom seen. When the history of science is described in textbooks, it only deals with the triumphs. The books tell us that the various scientists came to their conclusions based on objective reasoning and sound and accurate experiments. However, more often this is not the case. Scientists are but human, and it is difficult to be objective all the time. Sometimes their judgments are influenced by the sociopolitical situations of that time, opinions of peers and also their own personal biases.