Envy, greed, money: the world of researchers and their abysses

Envy, greed, money: the world of researchers and their abysses

The Viennese science journalist Georg Hollaus has an unusual preference: he collects everything there is to know about the “Tunguska event” in dozens of thick folders. On June 30, 1908, millions of trees were snapped down near the Siberian river without the cause ever being clarified. But Hollaus’ enthusiasm for Tunguska is as undirected as his career: He is not respected either as an editor or as an expert.

It was only when the physicist Jan Koller was murdered in front of a congress in Linz that his specialist knowledge was of use to him. Jelena Karpova, with whom he worked for years at the CERN nuclear research center in Geneva, is suspected of being the murderer. She admits the murder, but circumstantial evidence raises doubts. Her lawyer Eva Mattusch is convinced of her innocence but cannot help because Karpova is silent. Journalist Hollaus, whom Mattusch consults, uses the Tunguska incident to find access to the intelligent, pretty, popular and previously blameless suspect, since her family comes from Siberia and knows the riddle.

Wilfried Steiner – artistic director of the Linzer Posthof together with Gernot Kremser – takes us right into the abyss of the scientific community between envy, greed, money and love in his new novel “Beautiful Monsters”, which will be published on Monday. Entertaining and light-footed, he tells the intricate story, describing his characters full of sympathy, from the cranky George to the mysterious Jelena to the patent Eva.

Envy, greed, money: the world of researchers and their abyssesEnvy, greed, money: the world of researchers and their abysses

It always gets cumbersome when Steiner goes into the troubles of the physical level and gives the impression of being happy to present his well-founded knowledge to the willing reader. At the same time, the author opens up many levels in the novel: love story, thriller, storylines in Vienna, Linz, Geneva and at CERN, background information on physics, literature and history. Steiner skilfully combines all of this into a well-constructed story. But the head of the non-physicist smokes a little anyway.

Wilfried Steiners The novel “Beautiful Monsters” (Otto Müller, 25 euros) will be published on Monday.

OÖN Rating:

Book presentation: March 22 at 7.30 p.m. in the Stifterhaus Linz

Source: Nachrichten

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