The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of Science is a 2021 American nonfiction book written by Sam Kean and published by Little, Brown and Company.

Extensive documents and other historical sources, among additional facts portrayed through footnotes, are used to discuss the impact of various individuals from their actions, along with an appendix contemplating on the potential future crimes that may be committed by new scientific advancements.

[3] The sixth chapter considers the scientific conflict between Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh, who actively sabotaged and committed fraud against each other in order to prove themselves the better paleontologist.

[1] Writing in The Washington Post, Lucinda Robb described the book as having "the flair of a beach thriller and the thoughtfulness of philosophy" while being both "delightful" and "highly readable" and each page having a "wealth of information and juicy details, all held together with virtuoso storytelling".

[1] Brandy Schillace for the Wall Street Journal noted the "gems of phraseology" that Kean included in the book, but that rather than just being a "gathering of amusing vignettes", he successfully managed to get across the "systemic ways that early sins have crept into the heart of science and medicine today" through his descriptions.

[8] Publishers Weekly stated in a review that Kean "argues convincingly" on his premise that the individuals and events discussed in the book are uniquely terrible in what they did for the pursuit of scientific knowledge, concluding that The Icepick Surgeon is an "engrossing look at crimes often committed by otherwise moral people [that] deserves a wide readership".