Astwood discovered: Anon. 1976 (“a brilliant series…”); Cassidy 1976 (“a record perhaps…”).

“The Heritage of Corpulence:” Astwood 1962.

“regulation of ingestive behaviors…”: Greenwood 1985:20.

“The vast majority…”: Ibid.

“Something has happened…”: Interview, George Cahill.

Bergmann’s lipophilia hypothesis: Bergmann and Stroebe 1927 (“It seems just as illogical…,” 593–94). I’m grateful to Richard Frank and Haidi Kuhn Segal for the translation. See also Bauer 1941; Rony 1940:159–75.

“A second operation…”: Bauer 1941.

Case reported in 1913: Rony 1940 (“Adiposity of the lower body,” 170–71).

“noted Vienna authority…”: Anon. 1930b. Bauer’s expertise: Anon. 1979. See also Bauer 1945. My primary source for Bauer’s observations on obesity is Bauer 1941. “The genes responsible…”: Bauer 1940.

“A local factor must exist…”: Bauer 1941:975.

“Like a malignant tumor…”: Quoted in ibid.:978.

“obese boys in whom…”: Ibid.:980.

Grafe’s textbook: Grafe 1933. “more or less fully accepted”: Rony 1940:173–74. “…this conception deserves…”: Wilder and Wilbur 1938:310–11.

1955 German textbook chapter: Bahner 1955:1023–26. References from German literature: Rony 1940; Rynearson and Gastineau 1949. Footnote. Interview, Theodore Van Itallie.

Bauer’s articles in English: Silver and Bauer 1931; Bauer 1940; Bauer 1941. Newburgh’s seminal paper: Newburgh 1942.

“indubitable” and “is also probably present…”: Cahill 1978.

“significantly more weight”: Lee and Schaffer 1934. For a similar experiment, see Marx et al. 1942.

“These mice will make fat…”: Mayer 1968:48. Benedict reported this: discussed in Alonso and Maren 1955, which reported confirmation of the observation in a different strain of mice.

Greenwood’s Zucker rat studies: Greenwood et al. 1981.

Hypothalamic tumor in 1840: Brobeck 1946. Nicolaidis recounted: Interview, Stylianos Nicolaidis.

Hypothalamic research in its early years: See Brobeck et al. 1943; Magoun and Fisher 1980. Hetherington and Ranson resolved controversy: Hetherington and Ranson 1939.

Brobeck’s research: Brobeck et al. 1943 (“the laws of thermodynamics…,” 836).

Ranson interpreted: Hetherington and Ranson 1942 (“the tremendously decreased…”). “related to the feeding habits”: Brobeck et al. 1943:842. Footnote. Ibid.

Ranson argued: Hetherington and Ranson 1942:615.

“concertmaster…”: Anon. 1940.

Ranson studied fluid balance and diabetes insipidus: Fisher et al. 1938:1–2.

Hypothalamic lesions cause diabetes insipidus: Ibid.

“classic type of experimental obesities”: Mayer 1953a. Teitelbaum’s experience: Teitelbaum 1955; interview, Philip Teitelbaum (“Of course they overate…”).

Lesioning the lateral hypothalamus: Anand and Brobeck 1951. Ransom’s lab had reported: Magoun and Fisher 1980.

Hetherington did research for U.S. Air Force: Interview, John Brobeck. Later editions of Ranson’s textbook: See Ranson and Clark 1964:311.

Hypothalamus as regulator of eating behavior: See, for instance, Sutin 1976; Schachter and Rodin 1974:75–83. Psychologists would “discard”: Sclafani 1981b:409.

Brooks reported: Brooks 1946.

Brooks could only do so: Brooks 1946; Brooks and Lambert 1946 (“severe and permanent…,” 700; “followed by an augmentation…,” 707).

Studying hibernators: See Mrosovsky 1976.

Dietary models of obesity: Sclafani 1987 (high-sugar diets); Oscai et al. 1984 (high-fat). See also Wade 1982. Regaining weight after fasting: Levitsky et al. 1976. “It doesn’t matter…”: Interview, Irving Faust. Transgenic animals: See, for instance, Bluher et al. 2003; Cohen et al. 2002.

Removed ovaries from rats: For an excellent review of this work and the entire field of weight regulation and reproduction in mammals, see Wade and Schneider 1992. It was my interview with George Wade that opened my eyes to the reverse-causality hypothesis of weight gain.

“revelation”: Interview, George Wade. “The animals overeat and get fat…”: Interview, Tim Bartness.