Lewis Thomas
Lewis Thomas | |
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science writer, academic administration | |
| Institutions | Tulane University School of Medicine |
Lewis Thomas (November 25, 1913 – December 3, 1993) was an American physician, poet,
Life and career
Thomas was born in
He was invited to write regular essays in the
His autobiography, The Youngest Science: Notes of a Medicine Watcher, is a record of a century of medicine and the changes which occurred in it. He also published a book on etymology titled Et 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 of ecology. In his essay on Mahler's Ninth Symphony, Thomas addresses the anxieties produced by the development of nuclear weapons.[3] Thomas is often quoted, given his notably eclectic interests and superlative prose style.
Thomas was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1961),[4] the United States National Academy of Sciences (1972),[5] and the American Philosophical Society (1976).[6] The Lewis Thomas Prize is awarded annually by The Rockefeller University to a scientist for artistic achievement. He died in 1993 of Waldenstrom's disease, a rare lymphoma-like cancer.
Books
- ISBN 0-14-004743-3
- ISBN 0-14-024319-4
- Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler's Ninth Symphony, 1983, Viking Press: ISBN 0-14-024328-3
- The Youngest Science: Notes of a Medicine-Watcher, 1983, Viking: ISBN 0-14-024327-5
- Et Cetera, Et Cetera: Notes of a Word-Watcher, 1990. Little Brown & Co ISBN 1-56649-166-5
- The Fragile Species, 1992, Scribner, ISBN 0-684-84302-1
Quotes
‘Science progresses at the interface of the specialized and the universal.’
Notes
- National Book Awards history there were dual hardcover and paperback awards in most categories, and multiple nonfiction subcategories. Most of the paperback award-winners were reprints, including this one.
References
- ^
"National Book Awards – 1975" Archived 2011-09-09 at the Wayback Machine. National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-03-05.
(With acceptance speech by Thomas.) - ^ "National Book Awards – 1981". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-03-05.
- ^ Lewis Thomas: Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler's Ninth Symphony
- ^ "Lewis Thomas". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
- ^ "Lewis Thomas". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
External links
- Woodlief, Ann (2003). "Lewis Thomas (1913-1993)". Dictionary of Literary Biography. Vol. 275: Twentieth-Century American Nature Writers: Prose. Retrieved 19 October 2021 – via Virginia Commonwealth University. Succinct review of Thomas' life and of the books listed above.
- Gerald Weissmann, "Lewis Thomas", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2004)
- A film clip "The Open Mind - Genetic Manipulation (1983) is available for viewing at the Internet Archive
- A film clip "The Open Mind - "The Youngest Scientist: Notes of a Medicine Watcher" (1983)" is available for viewing at the Internet Archive
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