A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Stockholm: The Adrenaline-Fueled Adventures of an Accidental Scientist
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- Create Date：2021-07-08 08:50:57
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Robert J. Lefkowitz
- ISBN：1643136380
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Summary
The rollicking memoir from the cardiologist turned legendary scientist and winner of the Nobel Prize that revels in the joy of science and discovery。
Like Richard Feynman in the field of physics， Dr。 Robert Lefkowitz is also known for being a larger-than-life character: a not-immodest， often self-deprecating， always entertaining raconteur。 Indeed， when he received the Nobel Prize， the press corps in Sweden covered him intensively， describing him as “the happiest Laureate。”
In addition to his time as a physician， from being a "yellow beret" in the public health corps with Dr。 Anthony Fauci to his time as a cardiologist， and his extraordinary transition to biochemistry， which would lead to his Nobel Prize win， Dr。 Lefkowitz has ignited passion and curiosity as a fabled mentor and teacher。
But it's all in a day's work， as Lefkowitz reveals in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Stockholm， which is filled to the brim with anecdotes and energy， and gives us a glimpse into the life of one of today's leading scientists。
Like Richard Feynman in the field of physics， Dr。 Robert Lefkowitz is also known for being a larger-than-life character: a not-immodest， often self-deprecating， always entertaining raconteur。 Indeed， when he received the Nobel Prize， the press corps in Sweden covered him intensively， describing him as “the happiest Laureate。”
In addition to his time as a physician， from being a "yellow beret" in the public health corps with Dr。 Anthony Fauci to his time as a cardiologist， and his extraordinary transition to biochemistry， which would lead to his Nobel Prize win， Dr。 Lefkowitz has ignited passion and curiosity as a fabled mentor and teacher。
But it's all in a day's work， as Lefkowitz reveals in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Stockholm， which is filled to the brim with anecdotes and energy， and gives us a glimpse into the life of one of today's leading scientists。
Reviews
Stephanie Tanton
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Great stories from the life of a Nobel scientist。 Engaging episodes from his time as a cardiologist and from the competitive world of research labs。
Kelly
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Medical physician， cardiologist， researcher， scientist， and Nobel Laureate。。。。who has been at Duke for 40 years。 Funny book and lots of great advice on life。。。probably the most interesting man in a room （especially when they are all scientists）。 But fun and quick read。。。。Local stories make it interesting also。。。。。。
Jenny
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Delightful， funny， natural storyteller。 Highly recommend。
Dr Dan
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Close to home as this is someone who's lab's incredible research has been formative to my academic career。 Lots of familiar names and even a former PhD student in the credits。 Interesting read for me but I imagine tedious for most readers。 Interesting insight for an outsider to taste the desperation of many academics for peer recognition。 The funny stories aren't that funny and the main aftertaste was a huge ego。 Close to home as this is someone who's lab's incredible research has been formative to my academic career。 Lots of familiar names and even a former PhD student in the credits。 Interesting read for me but I imagine tedious for most readers。 Interesting insight for an outsider to taste the desperation of many academics for peer recognition。 The funny stories aren't that funny and the main aftertaste was a huge ego。 。。。more
Ben
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While it doesn't compare with Feynman's memoirs， this is still very readable and occasionally funny。 I appreciated reading Lefkowitz's blow-by-blow description of the Nobel award festivities。 Usually this is somewhat glossed over in memoirs， but Lefkowitz is obsessed with scientific competition and recognition， and isn't ashamed to boast and glory in it。 I appreciated his self-centered honesty， though I'm still not quite sure that I get the point of racing to do science ahead of two or three oth While it doesn't compare with Feynman's memoirs， this is still very readable and occasionally funny。 I appreciated reading Lefkowitz's blow-by-blow description of the Nobel award festivities。 Usually this is somewhat glossed over in memoirs， but Lefkowitz is obsessed with scientific competition and recognition， and isn't ashamed to boast and glory in it。 I appreciated his self-centered honesty， though I'm still not quite sure that I get the point of racing to do science ahead of two or three other groups doing the exact same thing in parallel—what novelty are you contributing？ There is a good mixture between science and personal stories。 > To efficiently deal with the deluge of offers I was receiving from other schools， I composed three different generic letters turning down such requests。 These three letters conveyed varying levels of angst， with the amount of angst being proportional to the stature of the university。 Letter C was polite and brief。 Letter B was longer and indicated a higher level of angst。 Letter A was reserved for inquiries from the top universities in the country。> Many young scientists in the early stages of their independent careers get distracted by constantly chasing the Bigger Better Deal。 I have always subscribed to the simple idea that if it ain’t broke， don’t fix it。> In the 1970s， many people were skeptical that receptors existed。 … At a national meeting in 1973， I presented a talk outlining my belief in receptors as physical entities as well as my aspiration to prove their existence。 This talk was followed by a discussion panel featuring the legendary Raymond Ahlquist as a member。 Ahlquist was the researcher who， in 1948， first discerned that there were two types of adrenergic receptor， which he termed alpha and beta。 He was also an ardent skeptic of the existence of receptors as physical entities。 In addressing the question of whether it might be possible to learn more about alpha and beta receptors by purifying them from tissues to study their properties in isolation， Ahlquist had written that such studies would only be worthwhile “if I was so presumptuous as to believe that alpha and beta receptors really did exist。 There are those that think so and even propose to describe their intimate structure。 To me they are an abstract concept conceived to explain observed responses of tissues produced by chemicals of various structure。”> I introduced myself and immediately started into an energetic lecture about receptor theory。 There were fifteen students in the class and from my first word they were all scribbling furiously in their notebooks， so I was impressed with their level of attentiveness。 After five minutes， though， one of the students raised his hand。 “Excuse me， Dr。 Lefkowitz， but I think you’re in the wrong room。 This class is Biochemistry 101 and the students are taking an exam。 I know because I’m the proctor。”> How had it come to this？ My lab had spent fifteen years， starting from scratch， systematically developing every procedure that would be necessary to purify the receptors and set up the ultimate elucidation of the gene sequence。 We had developed radioactive ligands to track the receptors and cutting-edge techniques to purify the receptors。 The idea that some other group was now going to beat us in becoming the first to learn what the receptors actually looked like was galling。 Adding further salt to this wound was the fact that Ross and colleagues were beating us using all of the procedures that we had developed and published。> Venter jokingly credited me with his subsequent success。 As he told it， for a period of fifteen years his lab had competed with mine and been scooped by us at every significant point。 The cloning of the beta receptor gene was for him the last straw， and he realized he needed to find a different line of work。 After losing this race， he became interested in developing technologies to sequence DNA more quickly， and ultimately decided to sequence the human genome。> Everywhere I went on campus， my colleagues would ask， “How is the sequencing going？ What does the receptor look like？” My answer was always the same。 “This receptor isn’t going to look like anything。 It’s the first receptor of its type to be identified， so it’s going to look completely unique。” As the sequence came into focus， however， I realized that I was spectacularly wrong。 The beta-2 adrenergic receptor did look like something else: specifically， it looked like rhodopsin， a light-sensitive protein found in the eye。 The primary sequence identity between the beta-2 receptor and rhodopsin was not very high and confined to just one region， but both had seven predicted transmembrane regions and they were clearly related> “How was it？” Brian asked。 I wanted to be encouraging， but I also didn’t want to lie to him。 I put my arm around him and leaned in。 “Brian，” I said， “That was the best talk you could have given。” Brian smiled。 This line would become a running joke between us for years to come。> Teach trainees to build their careers around problems， not techniques。 Sometimes trainees learn a new technique and then spend the next few months or years， or in some cases their entire careers， looking for other problems to which they can apply their newly learned technique over and over again。 This is exactly the wrong approach for developing a career in science> When the slides were ready， I would give a series of practice talks， sometimes by myself and sometimes in front of small groups of trainees from my lab。 The hard work on the slides and practice talks prepared me well for my renewal presentations。 However， these efforts also served another purpose: they showed my trainees how hard I was working to make my presentations shine。 The unspoken message was that I also expected my trainees to work hard on their presentations 。。。more
Peter Tillman
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Nature's shert review， as a best science pick:"Cardiologist-turned-biochemist， Robert Lefkowitz won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for showing how adrenaline works through stimulation of specific receptors， with huge implications for drug discovery。 Yet he calls himself “an accidental scientist”， because he trained as a physician。 Instead of being drafted to the Vietnam War， he served at the US National Institutes of Health。 His autobiography is a vividly anecdotal account， influenced by a su Nature's shert review， as a best science pick:"Cardiologist-turned-biochemist， Robert Lefkowitz won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for showing how adrenaline works through stimulation of specific receptors， with huge implications for drug discovery。 Yet he calls himself “an accidental scientist”， because he trained as a physician。 Instead of being drafted to the Vietnam War， he served at the US National Institutes of Health。 His autobiography is a vividly anecdotal account， influenced by a supervisor’s lesson that data do not tell a story: “A story is something you impose on the data。” 。。。more
Stefan Mitev
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Историята на един нобелов лауреат - от детството му в Ню Йорк до заветната царемония в Стокхолм。Робърт Лефковиц приема предложение да се занимава с наука， за да избегне участие във войната във Виетнам。 Първоначално желанието му е да бъде клиничен лекар - кардиолог， тъй като баща му умира от инфаркт твърде млад。 Книгата описва интересни анекдоти от ежедневието， ролята на случайността и късмета в израстването на младите лекари。Талантът на Лефковиц не остава незабелязан и той е поканен да оглави ла Историята на един нобелов лауреат - от детството му в Ню Йорк до заветната царемония в Стокхолм。Робърт Лефковиц приема предложение да се занимава с наука， за да избегне участие във войната във Виетнам。 Първоначално желанието му е да бъде клиничен лекар - кардиолог， тъй като баща му умира от инфаркт твърде млад。 Книгата описва интересни анекдоти от ежедневието， ролята на случайността и късмета в израстването на младите лекари。Талантът на Лефковиц не остава незабелязан и той е поканен да оглави лаборатория в университета Duke， Северна Каролина。 Екипът му прави важни открития за структурата и функцията на рецепторите за адреналин （алфа и бета）， които стават основа за разработване на нови класове лекарства。 Бета блокерите са едни от най-често използваните лекарства и до днес。Робърт Лефковиц дълго време чака своята Нобелова награда。 С тъга описва отминаващите години и разочарованието， когато научава， че отново победителите са други。 В един момент губи надежда， че науката вече е напреднала прекалено много и той ще бъде забравен от историята。 През 2012 г。 Нобеловата седмица отново започва по традиция с наградата за медицина и физиология。 Отново победителят е друг。 Но в средата на седмицата Лефковиц получава заветното обаждане от Стокхолм。 Самият той е изненадан， че е спечелил Нобеловата награда по химия， а винаги е очаквал да бъде по медицина。Животът след наградата се променя рязко и описанието е интересно за всички， които по една или друга причина са придобили неочаквана слава。 Прочетете книгата дори само заради това。 。。。more
PJ
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Great stories which are easily understandable even if one doesn't work in the same scientific domain。 Great stories which are easily understandable even if one doesn't work in the same scientific domain。 。。。more
s
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