- Title Pages
- Frontispiece
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Acknowledgments
- A Note on the Translation
- Introduction: A Scientist in His Life's Project
-
1 “I Have Never in My Life Felt I Belonged in the Place Where I Lived” -
2 “Stylistically, I'm Best at Irony” -
3 “I Wanted to Study Something That Couldn't Be Used” -
4 “I Have the Feeling That Everything Around Me Is Enveloped in a Mist” -
5 “When I Look at Other Scientists … None of Them Have Wasted as Many Years as I Have” -
6 “Now I Think Nobody Can Keep Me from Becoming a Doctor” -
7 “To Be Able to Let Nature Reflect in the Depths of My Own Soul” -
8 “I Am Branded with Infidelity, and See That Open-Eyed” -
9 “Letters Are a Spiritual Spiderweb in Which You Snare the Dreaming Soul of a Woman” -
10 “The Happiness of Feeling Superior to a Lot of People” -
11 “I Think the Work Has Principal Application to Immunology” -
12 “Antibody This, Antibody That, They Weren't Really Much Interested” -
13 “These People Don't Know What They're Doing” -
14 “I Suppose I Should Do Something, Maybe an Experiment or Something” - The Selection Theory as a Personal Confession
-
15 “My Hopes and Failures Are Within Myself” -
16 “This Theory Hadn't Made Much of a Stir, So Now, What Was I to Do?” -
17 “I'd Better Make Sure I Learn a Little about Immunology” -
18 “Finally, My Precious, I Have to Be Brilliant and Make Antibodies” -
19 “Like a Log Coming Slowly to the Surface of a Lake” -
20 “I Still Think That My Original Natural Selection Theory Was Better” -
21 “Immunology Is for Me Becoming a Mostly Philosophical Subject” - Epilogue: “What Struggle to Escape”
- Abbreviations Used in Notes
- Unpublished Sources
- Bibliography
- Index
“My Hopes and Failures Are Within Myself”
“My Hopes and Failures Are Within Myself”
- Chapter:
- (p.193) 15 “My Hopes and Failures Are Within Myself”
- Source:
- Science as Autobiography
- Author(s):
Thomas Söderqvist
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
This chapter focuses on Niels Jerne's visit to California. Adda was accompanying him, but the children, now aged twelve and eighteen, would remain in Denmark, and the apartment on Amaliegade would be rented out. His many books and Tjek's paintings made the apartment Jerne's umbilical cord to Denmark and a reflection of his life history:“Don't let it catch fire,” he allegedly said when leaving, “because if it catches fire I don't come back—this is my life.” He had looked forward to discussing his selection theory with Max Delbruck during the transatlantic crossing, but nothing came of it. Delbruck is supposed to have defended himself by saying that he could not discuss immunology because he didn't know anything about the subject, at which point Jerne began to ask himself why Delbruck wanted him in California at all.
Keywords: life history, California, Adda, Niels Jerne, selection theory, Max Delbruck, immunology
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- Title Pages
- Frontispiece
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Acknowledgments
- A Note on the Translation
- Introduction: A Scientist in His Life's Project
-
1 “I Have Never in My Life Felt I Belonged in the Place Where I Lived” -
2 “Stylistically, I'm Best at Irony” -
3 “I Wanted to Study Something That Couldn't Be Used” -
4 “I Have the Feeling That Everything Around Me Is Enveloped in a Mist” -
5 “When I Look at Other Scientists … None of Them Have Wasted as Many Years as I Have” -
6 “Now I Think Nobody Can Keep Me from Becoming a Doctor” -
7 “To Be Able to Let Nature Reflect in the Depths of My Own Soul” -
8 “I Am Branded with Infidelity, and See That Open-Eyed” -
9 “Letters Are a Spiritual Spiderweb in Which You Snare the Dreaming Soul of a Woman” -
10 “The Happiness of Feeling Superior to a Lot of People” -
11 “I Think the Work Has Principal Application to Immunology” -
12 “Antibody This, Antibody That, They Weren't Really Much Interested” -
13 “These People Don't Know What They're Doing” -
14 “I Suppose I Should Do Something, Maybe an Experiment or Something” - The Selection Theory as a Personal Confession
-
15 “My Hopes and Failures Are Within Myself” -
16 “This Theory Hadn't Made Much of a Stir, So Now, What Was I to Do?” -
17 “I'd Better Make Sure I Learn a Little about Immunology” -
18 “Finally, My Precious, I Have to Be Brilliant and Make Antibodies” -
19 “Like a Log Coming Slowly to the Surface of a Lake” -
20 “I Still Think That My Original Natural Selection Theory Was Better” -
21 “Immunology Is for Me Becoming a Mostly Philosophical Subject” - Epilogue: “What Struggle to Escape”
- Abbreviations Used in Notes
- Unpublished Sources
- Bibliography
- Index
