Nobelitis — How winning a Nobel Prize can give you delusions of grandeur

Linus Pauling won not one, but two Nobel Prizes — the first, for chemistry, in 1954 for his research into the nature of the chemical bond, and the Peace Prize in 1962 for his work in the anti- nuclear weapons movement. The American chemist not only won two Nobel Prizes, but won them on his own, a rare feat for any scientist. Such an honor often turns laureates into global superstars overnight, with millions hanging on their every word. That instant fame can be dangerous, said Nils Hansson, a professor in the Department of History, Theory and Ethics of Medicine at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf.