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At times, the journey of science serves as a powerful tool for transcending political, societal, and religious barriers to improve humanity. Yet, there are moments when it becomes a petty, competitive race to claim intellectual superiority. Here are ten of the most notable instances of the latter.
10. Origin of AIDS
In the early 1980s, an unidentified illness began spreading across the United States. Initially called Gay-Related Immune Deficiency, the disease was named AIDS in 1982. By the end of 1981, it had claimed 121 lives, yet the cause remained a mystery. The race to uncover its origins was a competition between two teams: one led by Robert Gallo in Maryland, US, and the other by Luc Montagnier in Paris, France.
It took only two years to identify the HIV virus, sparking a heated debate about who had made the discovery first. Eventually, credit was given to Luc Montagnier’s team in France. In 1991, Gallo acknowledged that his critical samples had come from Montagnier's lab in Paris. In 2008, Montagnier was awarded the Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking discovery, although some believed Gallo deserved recognition too. In the years following, both men exemplified how to handle conflict constructively, even co-authoring papers as ‘co-discoverers’ of the HIV virus. This productive approach could have served as a model for others on this list.
9. Development of Synthetic Human Insulin
Some scientific races emerge naturally from the prevailing state of knowledge, but the race to develop synthetic human insulin was a deliberate effort. For fifty years after the discovery of insulin in the 1920s, insulin derived from cows and pigs was used to treat human diabetes patients. However, allergic reactions in some individuals and difficulties in maintaining a reliable supply from livestock led to the need for a better solution. Genetic engineering through recombinant DNA technology offered the most promise. In 1976, Eli Lilly & Co., the leading US insulin producer, organized a symposium with prominent scientists, which ignited a fierce three-way race.
The competitors included biotech company Genentech, founded by Herbert Boyer, the University of California—San Francisco, and a team from Harvard. Each team took a different approach, and the lead in the race shifted frequently. Legal barriers, rather than scientific ones, posed significant challenges—the Harvard team lost an early advantage because their lab did not meet regulatory standards, forcing them to use a lab at MIT. Later, the requirement for human genetic material led the Harvard team to negotiate access to a military facility in England, while the San Francisco team moved their work to France. Genentech, which synthesized the gene artificially instead of extracting it from humans, avoided these legal hurdles. Although Genentech won the race, the other teams weren’t far behind. In just a couple of years, over a million type-1 diabetes patients in the US were able to live long, healthy lives, thanks to this race.
8. The Discovery of Neptune
The race to discover Neptune stands out because neither party knew the other was in pursuit. In the mid-19th century, astronomers observed that Uranus' orbit didn’t match the predictions from existing models. In June 1846, French mathematician Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier presented a paper to the French Académie des sciences, proposing the existence of a new planet to explain the discrepancies in Uranus' orbit. Unknown to Le Verrier, British mathematician John Couch Adams had made a similar prediction. When they realized the French were also on the case, the British launched their own search for the planet at the Greenwich Observatory.
The planet’s discovery was announced in September 1846 after it was observed by the Berlin observatory, under the guidance of Le Verrier. However, the British had actually spotted Neptune the previous month—twice—without recognizing it, due to outdated star maps. Still, unwilling to be overshadowed, the British made sure to publicly claim a share of the glory—claims that many now see as inflated, and which caused great distress to Le Verrier, who passed away without the recognition he truly deserved.
7. The Search for Element 43
The periodic table is one of the most celebrated and easily recognized accomplishments in science. Its elements are classified into various groups based on characteristics like their chemical behavior. When Dmitri Mendeleev compiled the earliest versions of the table in the 1860s, he noticed a gap for an element that had yet to be identified. He temporarily named it ekamanganese, and for over six decades, it would evade chemists, despite several claims from researchers in Russia, Germany, Japan, and Poland who believed they had discovered it. Ultimately, the element was officially found by Italian physicist and Nobel laureate Emilio Segrè in 1937.
Technetium was the first element to be synthesized artificially. Today, technetium generators are used across the globe for various medical purposes. It's involved in millions of medical scans each year, and many of those reading this may have been exposed to it in their own health assessments. For some, this element may have even played a role in saving their lives.
6. The Race to Orbit
While many consider the race to the moon as the highlight of the 1960s space race, the competition to launch an object into orbit actually ignited the entire space race and defined the 1950s. This contest began after World War II, with the USSR, the US, and the UK recruiting as many rocket scientists from former Nazi Germany as possible. One of the significant triggers was the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58, a global scientific event involving 67 countries, which included the launch of a satellite.
The United States' first rocket project, Orbiter, was discontinued in the mid-1950s, with the US Navy and Army then running their own research programs for a time. These programs continually broke records for how far missiles could reach into space, but it was not the US that claimed victory in the race to orbit. On October 4, 1957, the USSR launched the iconic Sputnik 1, which orbited Earth in just 98 minutes. The US, desperate to catch up, suffered an explosion during its first attempt in December 1957. The Soviets then sent the dog Laika into orbit before the US managed to launch Explorer 1 into orbit in 1958. You can listen to the recorded transmissions from both Sputnik and Explorer here.
5. First Human Heart Transplant
The history of heart surgery has its roots in World War II. US Army surgeon Dwight Harken, after performing surgeries on animals, became the first to demonstrate that heart surgery on humans was possible by removing shrapnel from soldiers' hearts. Over the next two decades, heart surgery advanced rapidly. Doctors became capable of repairing various heart conditions, significantly aided by the invention of the heart-lung machine in the late 1950s. However, some hearts were beyond repair, requiring replacement.
In 1959, Norman Shumway performed the first heart transplant between two dogs, setting off a nine-year competition to be the first to complete a human heart transplant. Shumway was a leader in developing the techniques for this groundbreaking procedure, performing over 200 heart transplants on dogs, a feat also matched by surgeon Adrian Kantrowitz from Brooklyn. The world awaited the first human heart transplant, and many expected it to happen in America, but the record was claimed by Christiaan Barnard from South Africa, an unexpected outsider. Barnard's name went down in history, but the true pioneers, Shumway and Kantrowitz, continued their crucial work, making the heart transplant the life-saving procedure it is today, saving thousands of lives annually.
4. Structure of DNA
In the 1940s, scientists discovered that DNA carried genetic information, prompting a race to uncover its structure. Linus Pauling, one of the most eminent scientists of the 20th century, proposed a triple helix model while working on the project in California. At King’s College in London, Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin used x-ray diffraction to study DNA, while in Cambridge, Francis Crick and James Watson, inspired by Pauling’s work, built physical models of the molecule. Ultimately, the Cambridge team's approach succeeded, but not without controversy.
Wilkins, frustrated by Franklin’s reluctance to share her data, showed her results to the Cambridge team without her permission, which helped Watson and Crick make a breakthrough. Shortly thereafter, they announced their discovery of the double helix structure. Watson, Crick, and Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962, but Rosalind Franklin, who passed away in 1958, tragically missed out on the recognition. Erwin Chargaff, an Austrian biochemist whose work greatly contributed to their success, was so upset at being overlooked that he wrote letters to scientists worldwide, eventually becoming a vocal critic of the field of microbiology.
3. Harness Fusion Power
Nuclear fusion, a dream energy source, promises incredible potential. A single bathtub of seawater could generate as much energy as 100 tonnes of coal with minimal waste, and most importantly, it would be safe. Additionally, fusion is the only viable method for producing helium, an increasingly scarce resource. Yet, despite its promise, it remains a power of the future, still awaiting realization.
There are several proposed methods for achieving nuclear fusion in a power plant. One approach, developed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, involves the use of a large number of lasers, though their focus has shifted somewhat toward nuclear weapon research. A leading candidate uses extremely powerful magnets to control a miniature star created in a fusion reactor. Known as the ITER project and backed by the European Union, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and the US, this initiative is constructing a plant with the aim of achieving operational status in the 2020s. Smaller projects include Princeton’s NSTX and the US Navy’s research into an alternative reactor called the Polywell.
The pursuit of nuclear fusion dates back to the late 1940s, making it the longest-running scientific race in history. The challenge, however, makes the reward all the more worthwhile, with the potential to save the world being a goal well worth striving for.
2. Liquefy Hydrogen and Helium
Heike Onnes and James Dewar shared one of the most intense rivalries in scientific history. The two men couldn’t have been more different in their approaches. Dewar was the embodiment of the traditional lone genius, fiercely protective of his discoveries, building his own equipment (he’s credited with inventing the vacuum flask), and, much like Newton before him, alienating almost everyone in his field. In contrast, Onnes was a visionary, advocating for an open, collaborative global scientific community.
Their competition to liquefy hydrogen was intense, but it had a rocky start. Dewar’s assistants suffered severe injuries, including losing their eyesight from exploding equipment, leading Dutch authorities to shut down Onnes' lab for three years out of safety concerns. Dewar won that initial race, but soon after, the discovery of helium—a new element—shifted the playing field. Helium had a lower liquefaction temperature than any other known substance, and Dewar’s tendency to isolate himself from other scientists hindered his ability to make further breakthroughs. Onnes, however, was the first to tackle this new challenge, earning him the Nobel Prize. Dewar, in turn, shifted his focus to studying soap bubbles, and to this day, vacuum flasks are still known as Dewar flasks. Onnes continued his research into cold and eventually discovered superconductivity, coining the term in the process. All in all, a pretty cool guy. (Apologies for the pun).
1. Human Genome Project
Few scientific endeavors have been given the honor of an announcement by heads of state, but the Human Genome Project was one such occasion. In June 2000, US President Bill Clinton and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair made a historic announcement revealing a working draft of the human genome. This was followed by the completion of the entire genome in 2003. The announcement in 2000 came at the conclusion of an intense and at times contentious race, a project that has been hailed as one of the greatest achievements in human science—on par with monumental feats like splitting the atom and landing on the moon.
The Human Genome Project, a publicly funded initiative, had been underway since 1990 with the goal of mapping the entire genome. However, a new competitor emerged in the late stages. Celera Genomics, founded by the renowned scientist Craig Venter, revealed in April 2000 that they were mere weeks away from publishing their own working draft. The race became incredibly tight, and the sprint to finish was on. In the end, after weeks of intense negotiations, both sides declared a draw, announcing the completion together. While there was much anticipation for a swift medical revolution, it didn’t materialize as quickly as many hoped, but the project remains an extraordinary achievement and a cornerstone of modern medical research.
