The Memory of Water: Homoeopathy and the Battle of Ideas in the New Science

This is the extraordinary story of the darker side of science's search for the truth. It begins with the persecution of Jacques Benveniste, a highly respected French scientist whose career was blighted when he dared to expand the horizons of traditional science. His research provided an explanation for one of the great mysteries of medical science: the workings of homoeopathy.

In collaboration with 12 other scientists, Benveniste performed experiments which he believes demonstrate that water can retain the 'memory' of molecules it once contained. If this is true, the laws of biochemistry would need to be completely rethought-the claims of homoeopaths would be validated and extremely dilute substances shown to have a possible effect on the human body.

Yet the laboratory of Jacques Benveniste was recently closed down by the French Institute for Medical Research and he is now deprived of any official means to carry out his research into homoeopathic dilutions. The Memory of Water explores his ideas and looks at why many of the scientific community want to censor him.

Michel Schiff is a researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research. He has worked closely with Jacques Benveniste.