Book Review: BRAVE GENIUS, by Sean B. Carroll

CAMUS, Albert
MODON, Jacques
       Yes, they are French, and yes, they are both Nobel Prize winners about 50 years ago.   What's the connection between the two?   As author Carroll spells out in his book,  these two friends met during the most difficult time in France in the 20th century:  the occupation of France by Nazi Germany.   In late 1940, the worst happened:  the Nazi army swept into France after swerving around the Maginot Defense line along the eastern border with Germany.   In no time, the French government fled to the south of France, and Nazis took over in Paris.  An armistice was signed, and the Vichy French Government was formed in collaboration with the occupying Nazis.
        Albert Camus, a Frenchman from Algeria, was already a noted author and philosopher.   He had written a number of papers and was in the process of writing one of his masterworks: The Stranger.
Jacques Modon was a scientist working in a Parisian lab on microbiology and genetics.
       When the reality of the occupation took hold, Col. Charles DeGaulle fled to England to establish a government-in-exile: Free France International.  Camus felt that the citizenry needed guidance, a sort of raison d'terre  to resist the Nazis.   An underground newspaper was created and called COMBAT.   To establish the organization needed, Camus had to connect with other like minded Frenchmen who still lived in Paris.   In time, he was able to cobble together a secret group who could print and distribute the paper that he edited.   The Gestapo was alerted to this effort and placed the group on its high priority list for arrest and removal.
         Jacques Modon the scientist, was involved in advanced research at a lab in Paris, at the Sorbonne.  Nearby, the Pasteur Institute was also engaged in advanced research, following the guidelines of the famed microbiologist, Louis Pasteur.   His interests were confined to the relatively new area of genetics, or how life was continuously renewed over the generations with a code of life, a code theorized, but unknown.
      The Resistance, as the underground military force became known as, needed leadership.  There were several local groups that attacked Nazi forces, but were unorganized, and easily compromised by the Gestapo and Vichy Intelligence Forces.  Modon was asked to assume overall leadership of these groups and to communicate with Allies in Switzerland where Americans(not yet in the war) could be contacted and pressed for support.
More later.