It looked like the perfect collaboration.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was preparing to roll out a new introductory course in biology, the first time the subject would be required for all undergraduates. It was 1991, and the university turned to two scientists who already were standouts.
First they signed up Nancy Hopkins, a noted geneticist who had designed the first biology curriculum for non-bio majors, which had earned higher ratings from students than any course in the department.
They paired her with Eric Lander, a “genius grant” winner who was pulling in big money for the Human Genome Project at MIT’s prestigious Whitehead Institute, a star so bright he had skipped over the usual tenure track to be hired onto the faculty the previous year.
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