"Writer Depicts Scientists Risking Glory for Truth and Truth for Glory"

From the New York Times:

"We can wait until we've dotted every 'i' and crossed each 't,' " Dr. Glass tells her. "We can wait until we reproduce it all and submit it to Nature. We can make sure every research note coming from the lab is of archival quality. Or we can seize the moment now. We can announce results that are still preliminary."

"Results that may be incorrect," Dr. Mendelssohn replies.

"Right," says Dr. Glass. "We can risk that they're incorrect and stake our claim before someone else does."

To scientists, this sounds oh so familiar. But the institute, the scientists and the discovery are actually fictional. They are from a new novel, "Intuition" (Dial Press), by a nonscientist, Allegra Goodman, whose doctorate is in English literature.

Scientists who have read the book say that somehow, Ms. Goodman has managed to write a tale about life in a science lab that rings so true and includes details so accurate and vivid that they say they are left reeling.

Gina Kolata, Writer Depicts Scientists Risking Glory for Truth and Truth for Glory, NY Times, March 21, 2006, reviewing Intuition, by Allegra Goodman.