He lost ten pounds in spite of the food his girlfriend brought him. He worked as hard as he could. The desire to be first, and the fear of being beaten to publication. He admits that his experiments could have been done more carefully if they hadn't been done at such a furious pace. There wasn't time for being cautious, though, because there was at least one other group about to publish the same story.
Competition can be a powerful motivator.
Yet we rarely work as arduously as George did out of altruism or pleasure. We remind ourselves almost daily that someone else is probably also working on our project. This nagging thought can be a strong motivator. Fast Findings vs. Learning Competition, however, can also be quite detrimental to graduate education. The negative consequences of competition on our education are seldom discussed openly.