A Scientist in Wonderland - A Memoir for Truth and Finding Trouble

Edzard Ernst

Imprint Academic

2015

200 páginas

6h 40m

ISBN-13: 9781845407773

This is the story of my life as a doctor and a scientist. Despite a youthful ambition to become a jazz musician, I eventually studied medicine and became a medical research scientist, taking up appointments in Germany, Austria and finally in England. My reverence for the pursuit of truth through the application of scientific methods, coupled with a growing interest in the history of medicine during the Nazi era, did not always endear me to my professional colleagues. At the time I was appointed to the world's first chair in alternative medicine, this was an area of health care that had never been studied systematically, and was almost entirely dominated by outspokenly evangelic promoters and enthusiasts ― among them, famously, HRH Prince Charles ― many of whom exhibited an overtly hostile, anti-scientific attitude towards the objective study of their favoured therapies. Clashes were inevitable, but the sheer ferocity with which advocates of alternative medicine would go in order to protect their field from scrutiny came as a profound surprise. This memoir provides a unique insight into the cutthroat politics of academic life and offers a sobering reflection on the damage already done by pseudoscience in the field of medicine.

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Edzard Ernst

O trabalho incansável feito pelo médico cientista Edzard Ernst, de combate ao que há de irresponsável e condenável nas pseudociências, é de imenso valor. Aqui no Brasil, principalmente por aqueles que não circulam ou se interessam pelo mundo da ciência, ele é um total desconhecido. Então, aqui fica a recomendação.

Em A Scientist in Wonderland, Edzard conta sobre sua vida, desde a infância na Alemanha e sua relação com a família, com estudos, passando, principalmente, por seu sonho de ser um músico de jazz, até quase o presente, já aposentado, após liderar um dos maiores - se não o maior - departamentos de pesquisas sobre medicina alternativa do mundo. Departamento altamente produtivo e de renome - muito graças a ele.
Edzard foi perseguido, pressionado e ameaçado por defender a ciência e a ética, a seriedade do trabalho de pesquisa e responsabilidade com a vida.

Como adendo, a quem interessar possa, Edzard relata a obsessão de Príncipe Charles com a medicina alternativa, que rendeu ao cientista alemão uma sabotagem vinda da realeza.

O livro curto, irreverente e de fácil leitura.

"When science is abused, hijacked or distorted in order to serve political or ideological belief systems, ethical standards will inevitably slip. The resulting pseudoscience is a deceit perpetrated on the weak and the vulnerable. We owe it to ourselves, and to those who come after us, to stand up for the truth, no matter how much trouble this might bring."