Logo IMG HOME > SCIENTISTS' NIGHTSTAND > Scientists' Nightstand
Detail   A Master Synthesizer  Oren Harman  A Genetic and
Cultural Odyssey: The Life and Work of L. Luca Cavalli-Sforza.
Linda Stone and Paul F. Lurquin. xiv + 227 pp. Columbia
University Press, 2005. $45.  A young man of 18, having
hesitantly prepared his registration documents for medical
school, takes his place in line at the university to hand them
in. While waiting, he notices that the line beside his is for
registration in the natural sciences. Suddenly, an exciting
thought enters his mind: Perhaps I should switch lines! But no,
that would mean filling in an entire new set of registration
forms. Better to stay put.  Geneticist L. Luca Cavalli-
Sforza...Click to Enlarge Image  The place was Turin, the time
1940. Eventually all of the students at the university except
those in medical school would be drafted to fight in World War
II. The young man's laziness would thus prove to be a stroke of
luck. His name? Luigi Cavalli—now L. Luca Cavalli-S