Like the cracking of the genetic code and the creation of the atomic
bomb, the discovery of how the brain's neurons work is one of the
fundamental scientific developments of the twentieth century. The
discovery of neurotransmitters revolutionized the way we think about the
brain and what it means to be human yet few people know how they were
discovered, the scientists involved, or the fierce controversy about
whether they even existed. The War of the Soups and the Sparks tells
the saga of the dispute between the pharmacologists, who had uncovered
the first evidence that nerves communicate by releasing chemicals, and
the neurophysiologists, experts on the nervous system, who dismissed the
evidence and remained committed to electrical explanations.
The protagonists of this story are Otto Loewi and Henry Dale, who
received Nobel Prizes for their work, and Walter Cannon, who would have
shared the prize with them if he had not been persuaded to adopt a
controversial theory (how that happened is an important part of this
history). Valenstein sets his story of scientific discovery against the
backdrop of two world wars and examines the fascinating lives of several
scientists whose work was affected by the social and political events of
their time. He recounts such stories as Loewi's arrest by Nazi storm
troopers and Dale's efforts at helping key scientists escape Germany.
The War of the Soups and the Sparks reveals how science and scientists
work. Valenstein describes the observations and experiments that led to
the discovery of neurotransmitters and sheds light on what determines
whether a novel concept will gain acceptance among the scientific
community. His work also explains the immense importance of Loewi, Dale,
and Cannon's achievements in our understanding of the human brain and
the way mental illnesses are conceptualized and treated.
