Max Odens was a man of many contradictions. On the one hand, he was a meticulous, detail‐obsessed Londoner who once nearly lost his standing at a local hospital after repeatedly writing letters to the press complaining about how filthy the city’s public telephone booths were. On the other, he was every bit a publicity seeker, forever angling for the next big headline. He was, at heart, a perfectionist with a penchant for stirring commotion. And lurking just beneath his showy exterior was a revolutionary scientist who, by a blend of serendipity and brilliance, stumbled upon what might have been the most earthshaking discovery in medical history: a way to prolong life dramatically, perhaps even “cure” aging.