32-year-old Kevin Eggan, Harvard’s stem cell Golden Boy. Scientifically, Dr Eggan is a real smart guy. In June he was named one of
Popular Science magazine’s “Brilliant Ten”. Last month he won a
MacArthur genius grant, an annual award for exceptionally talented and creative people, which comes with US$500,000, no strings attached – about as much money as a Nobel Prize. A spokesman for Harvard describes his work as “intellectually daring, technically astonishing”. His boss calls Eggan “one of those rare individuals who clearly and immediately sees the big picture, can seemingly instantly scope out a way forward, and then delivers on his ideas.”
I’m sceptical. Dr Eggan may win his Nobel Prize some day, but his ethics only qualifies him for one of the
hilarious igNobel Prizes awarded yesterday at his university. Here is a report of a debate on the ethics of stem cell research from the
Harvard Gazette:…
