Shane Crotty's biography of David Baltimore details the life and work of one of the most brilliant, powerful, and controversial scientists of our time. Although only in his early sixties, Baltimore has made major discoveries in molecular biology, established the prestigious Whitehead Institute at MIT, been president of Rockefeller University, won the Nobel Prize, and been vilified by detractors in one of the most scandalous and protracted investigations of scientific fraud ever. He is now president of Caltech and a leader in the search for an AIDS vaccine. Crotty not only tells the compelling story of this larger-than-life figure, he also treats the reader to a lucid account of the amazing revolution that has occurred in biology during the past forty years. Basing his narrative on many personal interviews, Crotty recounts the milestones of Baltimore's career: completing his Ph.D. at Rockefeller University in eighteen months, participating in the anti―Vietnam War movement, winning a Nobel Prize at age thirty-seven for the codiscovery of reverse transcriptase, and co-organizing the recombinant DNA/genetic engineering moratorium. Along the way, readers learn what viruses are and what they do, what cancer is and how it happens, the complexities of the AIDS problem, how genetic engineering works, and why making a vaccine is a complicated process. And, as Crotty considers Baltimore's public life, he retells the famous scientific fraud saga and Baltimore's vindication after a decade of character assassination. Crotty possesses the alchemical skill of converting technical scientific history into entertaining prose as he conveys Baltimore's huge ambitions, intensity, scientific genius, attitude toward science and politics, and Baltimore's own view about what happened in the "Baltimore Affair." Ahead of the Curve shows why with his complex personality, keen involvement in public issues, and wide-ranging interests David Baltimore has not only shaped the face of American science as we know it today, but has also become a presence in our culture. When hearing David Baltimore's name, many people will think only of the ten-year scientific fraud scandal involving him and Thereza Imanishi-Kari. Yet Baltimore has been an important figure in modern molecular biology and virology, from his early work on RNA replicase and animal virus replication and his role in the controversy surrounding early recombinant DNA experientments, to his continuing work at Caltech as its president and as head of the AIDS Vaccine Research Committee. Crotty, Howard Hughes Doctoral Fellow at the University of California, San Francisco, has written an intriguing biography of the controversial Nobel Prize-winning scientist. She narrates Baltimore's life in the context of the exciting discoveries that have changed biology since the 1950s and the fascinating people who made those discoveries and influenced Baltimore's career. Crotty also takes the time to explain clearly the science and scientific methods used in molecular biology and virology research. She covers the fraud case well, but David Kevles's The Baltimore Case: A Trial of Poltics, Science, and Character (LJ 10/1/98) offers a more extended study of that event. For public and academic libraries. Margaret Henderson, Cold Spring Harbor Academics, NY Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. ". . . Crotty has a knack for explaining complicated science in lay language . . ." -- Washington Post Book World "Crotty does an impressive job of outlining Baltimore's scientific role in many of his major discoveries . . ." -- Publishers Weekly "Crotty's book . . . should be read by anyone, whether scientist or not, who cares about the modern research enterprise." -- Nature "Crotty's book brilliantly illuminates this pillar of molecular biology." -- Nature "Crotty's writing style is a hit, he brings the science to everyone's level, and . . . has a great story to tell." -- Nature Medicine "[Crotty's] book works best as a window into the culture of scientists." -- Wall Street Journal "[T]he personal as well as scientific reasons for Baltimore's eminence shine through." -- New Scientist "A thoroughly researched, vivid, and accessible portrait of one of the towering intellectual figures of our time, David Baltimore: his life, his politics, his driving ambition, his stunning self-confidence."—Alan Lightman, author of Einstein's Dreams and The Diagnosis, National Book Award Nominee "A fascinating history of the life and science of one of the twentieth century's most important scientists. What drove Baltimore to a Nobel Prize, the establishment of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, and the presidency of both Rockefeller and Caltech? This first book by a promising young writer provides a large part of the story."—Phillip A. Sharp, 1993 Nobel Prize winner and Cancer Institute Professor, MIT "This is the story of one of the most extraordinary lives in science today. Dav