CONTENTS -- Preface -- Chapter 1 -- More than a Century of Nobel Prizes -- Alfred Nobel and his life -- Academies and prizes -- The will -- Implementation of the will -- The selection process -- The awarding institutions and the prizes -- The secrecy of the prize selection process -- The number of prize recipients -- The nationality of Nobel Prize recipients -- The awardee and the prize -- There is no Nobel Prize in economics -- The enigmatic concept of discovery -- Coda - Alfred Nobel's surprise -- Chapter 2 -- Serendipity and Nobel Prizes -- The origin of "serendipity" -- Horace Walpole -- Serendipity and scientific endeavor -- Serendipitous events in science -- The magic of invisible rays -- Patterns of background radiation -- The "vital force" of Nature dismissed -- Helpful students' mistakes -- From observational to evidence-based medicine -- The paradigm example of a serendipitous finding? -- The discovery of infectious agents in a remarkable context -- "Serendipity" - From arcane to en vogue -- What's in a word? -- The capricious nature of the scientific process -- Coda - Minute infectious agents -- Chapter 3 -- Nobel Prizes and the Emerging Virus Concept -- Nobel Prizes in the field of virology -- Nobel archives and the evolving virus concept -- The first Nobel Prize in virology: Wendell Stanley -- Stanley's findings and the discussions of infectious proteins -- Bacteriophage replication and the studies of genes -- Animal viruses and the understanding of the nature of viruses -- The final synthesis of the virus concept -- A counterfactual history of virology -- Virology 50 years later -- Coda - Are viruses live or dead material? -- Chapter 4 -- The Only Nobel Prize for a Virus Vaccine: Yellow Fever and Max Theiler -- The disease and the epidemics -- The virus and possibilities for vaccine development.

Max Theiler, the experimental scientist -- The first deliberations by the Nobel Committee -- Theiler's road toward the critical discovery -- Continued deliberations by the Nobel Committee -- The history of viral vaccines -- What is a discovery? -- A charming encounter -- Coda - Sven Gard's return -- Chapter 5 -- Polio and Nobel Prizes -- Polio epidemics in the 20th century -- Initial attempts to produce a vaccine -- Early deliberations by the Nobel Committee -- Enders, viruses and cultured cells -- Sven Gard and his role -- Nomination of Enders in 1952 -- Nominations of Enders and collaborators in 1953 and 1954 -- The decision -- Polio research and vaccine production -- Why not wait for the first vaccine trials? -- Coda - A unique contact -- Chapter 6 -- Unusual Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine -- The first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine -- The enigma of Alexis Carrel -- The rapid advance toward a Nobel Prize -- Eternal life in cultures -- Carrel's engagement during the two world wars -- Did Carrel's scientific contributions motivate his Nobel Prize in 1912? -- The importance of friendship across the Kattegat -- The attraction of contraction -- Powerful developments in a subfield of physiology -- Embden never received a Nobel Prize -- Insulin, its remarkable discovery and a much debated Nobel Prize -- A committee in quandary -- The awardees' reaction to the prize announcement -- The post-prize developments of the two laureates and two non-laureates -- Would the committee have changed its stand if it had delayed the awarding of the prize? -- An exceptional comment by a later committee on the insulin prize -- A Nobel Prize awarded in the midst of World War II -- The importance of a secretary with insight -- Prize award in the diaspora -- A candidate who almost did not make it.

DDT, a uniquely effective insecticide which fell into disrepute -- DDT marches with the troops -- The committee and faculty moved quickly in 1948 -- The future saga of DDT -- Corticosteroids, another medical wonder drug -- Joshua Lederberg, a rapidly recognized scientist -- An inspiring nomination -- The brilliant review of Lederberg's scientific contributions -- The formative years in the work of the committee -- Coda - Sometimes it takes time -- Chapter 7 -- Nobel Prizes and Nucleic Acids: A Drama in Five Acts -- The chemistry of the nucleus -- Enter Albrecht Kossel -- The eclipse of nucleic acids -- The milestone discovery by Avery -- The growing insight of the Committee for Chemistry -- Slow appreciation by the Committee for Physiology or Medicine -- The temperature of engagement increases -- From the structure of viruses to the central dogma -- Organic crystals unraveled and the code of life deciphered -- Reading the books of life -- Writing the books of life -- The two final acts in the drama of the role of nucleic acids -- Coda - There is still more to molecular genetics -- Chapter 8 -- Nobel Prizes, Prions and Personalities -- The encyclopedic eternal traveler -- Milestones in the early studies of atypical infectious agents -- A unique Nobel lecture and a remarkable extended family -- A San Francisco neurologist challenged by a case of CJD -- The unconventional virus is not a virus after all -- An alarming epidemic of CJD in younger patients -- "Neo-cannibalism" in cattle and a new form of CJD in humans -- Neo-cannibalism in humans? -- The mechanisms of prion diseases have a wider application -- The archetype of the successful scientist -- References -- Name Index -- Subject Index.