Hapley

Hapley built a European reputation almost entirely as a byproduct of his obsession with discrediting Pawkins, and when the rivalry kills his adversary, the victory curdles into a restless, unfeedable fixation. He tries novels, chess, and finally diatoms to distract himself, but every pursuit bends back toward the man he cannot stop thinking about. His inability to let go is what makes him vulnerable to the strange optical phenomenon he notices at his microscope one evening.