Lewis Thomas | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1913-11-25)November 25, 1913 |
| Died | December 3, 1993(1993-12-03) (aged 80) |
| Alma mater | Princeton University,Harvard Medical School |
| Awards | National Book Award (3) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Biology,science writer,academic administration |
| Institutions | Tulane University School of Medicine |
Lewis Thomas (November 25, 1913 – December 3, 1993) was an American physician, poet,etymologist, essayist, administrator, educator, policy advisor, and researcher.
Thomas was born inFlushing, New York and attendedPrinceton University andHarvard Medical School. He became Dean ofYale Medical School andNew York University School of Medicine, and President ofMemorial Sloan-Kettering Institute. His formative years as an independent medical researcher were atTulane University School of Medicine.
He was invited to write regular essays in theNew England Journal of Medicine. One collection of those essays,The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher (1974), won annualNational Book Awardsin two categories, Arts and Letters and The Sciences (both awards were split).[1](He also won aChristopher Award for that book.) Two other collections of essays (originally published inNEJM and elsewhere) wereThe Medusa and the Snail andLate Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler's Ninth Symphony. In its first paperback edition,The Medusa and the Snail won another National Book Award in Science.[2][a]
His autobiography,The Youngest Science: Notes of a Medicine Watcher, is a record of a century ofmedicine and the changes which occurred in it. He also published a book onetymology titledEt Cetera, Et Cetera, poems, and numerous scientific papers.
Many of his essays discuss relationships among ideas or concepts using etymology as a starting point. Others concern the cultural implications of scientific discoveries and the growing awareness ofecology. In his essay on Mahler'sNinth Symphony, Thomas addresses the anxieties produced by thedevelopment of nuclear weapons.[3] Thomas is often quoted, given his notably eclectic interests and superlative prose style.
Thomas was a member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences (1961),[4] the United StatesNational Academy of Sciences (1972),[5] and theAmerican Philosophical Society (1976).[6] TheLewis Thomas Prize is awarded annually by TheRockefeller University to a scientist for artistic achievement.He died in 1993 ofWaldenstrom's disease, a rare lymphoma-like cancer.
His daughter is writerAbigail Thomas.[7]
