Bernard Dixon’s article, “A Brief History of Dubious Science (The Scientist, September 5,1988, page 5), makes an unjust reference to the research on an “alleged memory molecule” by Georges Ungar. The author indicates marked decrease in citations for Ungar’s paper published in the July 1972 edition of Nature without trying to pinpoint the main contributing factors.
After initial interest and enthusiasm, which is indicated by increased citations in 1974, Georges Ungar became the target for his peers. In 1976, most of his funds were cut off and, in 1979, when the real plunge in citations happened, he was no longer alive. Most of his associates were chemists who were heavily involved in their own projects in different areas and for whom the research on the memory molecule was only a marginal project. He did not leave any neurobiologist of his stature to be able to further
develop the idea and ...
