In August 1890, Robert Koch, Europe’s greatest scientist, was rumoured to have found a cure for tuberculosis; sufferers began to arrive in Berlin in their thousands. In November, when Koch was scheduled to make public his miraculous substance, physicians joined the pilgrimage – among them, the young Arthur Conan Doyle. In this study, Goetz explores the ‘historic if unwitting collaboration’ of Koch and Doyle; how both men’s lives were undone by tuberculosis; and the positive contribution of failed theories to medical progress.
eBay