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The Early History of the Protein-only Hypothesis: Scientific Change and Multidisciplinary Research

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Infectious Processes

Part of the book series: Science, Technology and Medicine in Modern History ((STMMH))

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Abstract

In 1997, the American neurologist and biochemist Stanley B. Prusiner received the Nobel Prize in medicine for his discovery of ‘prions’ - a new biological principle of infection. Preceding this discovery lies a complicated history of the research on a number of neurodegenerative diseases, including the sheep disease scrapie. During the 1960s, research on scrapie revealed that the infectious agent had very unusual characteristics, and a variety of hypotheses regarding the principle of scrapie infection were advanced. However, not until the 1980s did a single hypothesis, Prusiner’s prion hypothesis — which is basically a protein-only hypothesis1 — succeed in attracting the attention of the majority of the scientific community. Interestingly, protein-only hypotheses had been advanced as early as the mid-1960s but without receiving any notable support from other scientists than those who had advanced them.

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Authors
  1. Maj-Britt Juhl Poulsen
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  2. Hanne Andersen
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of History, University of Aberdeen, UK

    Eve Seguin (political scientist and a researcher) (political scientist and a researcher)

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© 2004 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

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Poulsen, MB.J., Andersen, H. (2004). The Early History of the Protein-only Hypothesis: Scientific Change and Multidisciplinary Research. In: Seguin, E. (eds) Infectious Processes. Science, Technology and Medicine in Modern History. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230524392_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230524392_2

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-51588-2

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