About this item
It was one of the biggest scandals in New York University history. Professor John Buettner-Janusch, chair of the Anthropology Department, was convicted of manufacturing LSD and Quaaludes in his campus laboratory. He claimed the drugs were for an animal behavior experiment, but a jury found otherwise. B-J, as he was known, served three years in prison before being paroled, emerging to find his life and career in shambles. Four years later, he sought revenge by trying to kill the sentencing judge with poisoned Valentine’s Day chocolates. After pleading guilty to attempted murder, he was sentenced to twenty years in prison, where he died on a hunger strike. But before he was infamous, B-J was a scientific luminary who taught at Yale and Duke as well as NYU.
About the Author
Peter Kobel has worked as an editor at , and and has contributed articles to and , among many other publications. His critically acclaimed book (Little, Brown) was published in collaboration with the Library of Congress. His biography of the controversial physical anthropologist John Buettner-Janusch will be published by Globe Pequot Press in July. Kobel has also served as an advocate for conservation and social justice at several nonprofit organizations.
