Collins and Venter at odds from "summary" of The Genome War by James Shreeve
The epic battle between J. Craig Venter and Francis Collins was more than just a clash of personalities – it was a collision of two diametrically opposed worldviews. Collins, the consummate team player, believed that science was a collaborative endeavor, best pursued by pooling resources and sharing information. Venter, on the other hand, was a maverick, driven by a fierce desire to be the first to unlock the secrets of the human genome. Their differences became apparent early on in the Human Genome Project, when Venter's company, Celera Genomics, announced its intention to sequence the genome ahead of the publicly funded effort led by Collins. This move startled and infuriated Collins and his colleagues, who saw it as a direct challenge to their authority and a violation of the principles of scientific cooperation. As the race to sequence the genome heated up, tensions between the two camps simmered and then boiled over. Collins accused Venter of playing fast and loose with the rules of science, while Venter ac...
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