PHYSICIAN, STUDY THYSELF: Barry Marshall's daring experiment eventually garnered him awards.
Marshall was correct. He suffered an inflamed stomach. Von Pettenkofer was incorrect. He was fortunate to survive. Both researchers risked their health-and, perhaps, their lives-to prove a scientific point. And they are not alone.
Since the earliest days of medicine, self-experimenting researchers have swallowed microbes, injected vaccines, followed deprivation diets, and even performed their own surgeries. Aside from health hazards, these unorthodox experimenters risk the incredulity of peers accustomed to formal subject studies. If a self-experiment is unsuccessful, an investigator's reputation -- and funding -- may be in jeopardy.
So why self-experiment? Belief in a hypothesis. Curiosity. Convenience. Ethics. Desperation. A medley of motivations stands behind self-experimentation. Usually, researchers double as subjects because it appears both practical and ethical.
"I was so frustrated," recalls Marshall, now a gastroenterologist at the University of Virginia. "I had been trying to infect ...
