内容简介
人们怎么也想不到，“二战”时期德国对巴里港的一次毁灭性空袭竟然启发科学家发现了癌症的化学疗法。本书讲述了这段不为人知的历史，揭示了亚历山大如何与军方的保密机制抗争，排除各方阻力，艰难地得出这一重要发现。
1943年12月2日，德国空袭位于意大利的巴里港。在这次空袭中，上百吨芥子气炸弹泄漏，造成约1 000名盟军或海员死亡。事后，盟军高层将领决定隐瞒此事，因为秘密持有化学武器这一点无论从战术上还是舆论上都对盟军不利。由于丘吉尔和艾森豪威尔决心掩盖此事，空袭巴里港成为“二战”时期秘密的军事事件。
中校斯图尔特•亚历山大是此次事件的亲历者，也是真相大白的重要的推动者。他经过专业、缜密的调查，发现了受害者病历中的异常之处，得出芥子气可能会对癌症有治疗功效的结论。他对此事的调查受到了军方的阻挠，但他没有放弃对真相的追求，而是不顾个人安危，尽己所能，将报告呈交给他能接触到的人士，使得后人在重新调查此次事故时有了一手资料，也揭开了科学家用化学疗法治疗癌症的序幕。
随着科学的发展，癌症的化学疗法将慢慢退出历史的舞台。但亚历山大从战争的废墟中发现化疗方法的故事，不但使得更多癌症患者因此有了生的希望，也使得那些在巴里港事件中无辜枉死或身受重伤的众多受害者的牺牲有了更多的意义。
作者简介
詹妮特·科南特，畅销书作家，美国科学家、哈佛大学前校长詹姆斯·科南特的孙女。代表作品包括《塔克西多公园》《詹姆斯·科南特传》《原子弹之父奥本海默》等。她与丈夫、儿子和两条金毛猎犬住在纽约。
Content introduction
A devastating German air raid on the port of Bari during World War II would never have inspired scientists to discover chemotherapy for cancer. This book recounts this untold history and reveals how Alexander struggled against the military's secrecy regime to make this important discovery.
On December 2, 1943, Germany bombed the port of Bari in Italy. In this attack, hundreds of tons of mustard gas bombs were leaked, resulting in the deaths of approximately 1,000 Allied or seamen. In the aftermath, top Allied commanders decided to keep it a secret, because the secret possession of chemical weapons was a tactical and public disadvantage to the Allies. Because Churchill and Eisenhower were determined to cover it up, the raid on Bari became a secret military affair during World War II.
Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Alexander was a witness to the incident and an important promoter of the truth. After a professional and rigorous investigation, he found anomalies in the medical records of the victims and concluded that mustard gas might have therapeutic effects on cancer. His investigation of the matter was obstructed by the military, but he did not give up the pursuit of the truth, but regardless of personal safety, he did his best to submit the report to the people he could contact, so that future generations have first-hand information in the re-investigation of the accident, but also opened the prelude to scientists using chemotherapy to treat cancer.
With the development of science, chemotherapy for cancer will slowly withdraw from the stage of history. But the story of Alexander's discovery of chemotherapy from the ruins of war not only gives hope to more cancer patients, but also gives meaning to the sacrifice of so many victims who died or were seriously injured in the Port of Barry incident.
About the author
Janet Conant is a best-selling author and granddaughter of James Conant, an American scientist and former president of Harvard University. His works include "Tuxedo Park," "James Conant's Biography," and "Oppenheimer, Father of the atomic Bomb." She lives in New York with her husband, son and two golden retrievers.
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