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The Genius and the Boys

60% | Jun 01, 2009 | TV Movie, Documentary

D Carleton Gajdusek won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of Prions - the particles that would emerge as the cause of Mad Cow disease - while working with a cannibal tribe on New Guinea. He was a star of the scientific world. Over his years working amongst the tribes of the South Seas, he adopted 57 kids, bringing them to a new life in Washington DC. His adoptions were hailed as wonderful fatherly beneficence. But, at the height of his career, rumours began to spread he was a paedophile. Gajdusek would argue that if sex with children was okay in their own cultures, he wasn't wrong to join in. How could a great mind like Gajdusek's lose insight so totally, and why would the scientific community to which he was a hero be so quick to leap to his defence and dismiss the allegations? (Storyville)

Featured Crew

Lars Heleander
Production Manager
Bosse Lindquist
Director

Cast

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Michael Alpers
Himself - Professor of Medicine - Expert on Kuru
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Warwick Anderson
Professor in Medical Anthropology
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Sena Anua
Medical Reporter - PNGIMR
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Carleton Gajdusek
Himself - Virologist - Anthropologist - Linguist - Author - etc

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