Robert Silman is a doctor/scientist, for many years Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant at St. Bartholomew's and the Royal London School of Medicine where he authored scores of research publications in the major scientific research journals, principally on the role of the pituitary hormones ACTH and endorphin in pregnancy and parturition, and the pineal hormone melatonin in growth and puberty. Before medical school he obtained a degree in Philosophy (Licence ès Lettres) at the Sorbonne where he co-wrote a political thriller, Assassination, under the pen name Ben Abro, published by Jonathan Cape in the UK and William Morrow in the USA. The book gave rise to a libel action with a celebrated French politician. The book was withdrawn during court proceedings and was republished in April 2001 by the University of Nebraska Press (ISBN: 9780803259393) with an extensive historical addendum on the accompanying libel action.
