Lewis Thomas

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born

November 25, 1913

died

December 03, 1993

gender

male

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Lewis Thomas (November 25, 1913–December 3, 1993) was a physician, poet, etymologist, essayist, administrator, educator, policy advisor, and researcher.

Thomas was born in Flushing, New York and attended Princeton University and Harvard Medical School. He became Dean of Yale Medical School and New York University School of Medicine, and President of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Institute. His formative years as an independent medical researcher were at Tulane University School of Medicine.

He was invited to write regular essays in the New England Journal of Medicine, and won a National Book Award for the 1974 collection of those essays, The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher. He also won a Christopher Award for this book. Two other colle...more

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Books by Lewis Thomas

Average rating: 4.13 · 2,501 ratings · 213 reviews · 19 distinct works

	The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher 4.16 avg rating — 1,586 ratings — published 1974 — 13 editions	My rating:
	The Medusa and the Snail: More Notes of a Biology Watcher 4.12 avg rating — 400 ratings — published 1974 — 13 editions	My rating:
	Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler's Ninth Symphony 4.02 avg rating — 217 ratings — published 1983 — 7 editions	My rating:
	The Youngest Science 4.14 avg rating — 142 ratings — published 1983 — 6 editions	My rating:
	The Fragile Species 4.00 avg rating — 63 ratings — published 1992 — 3 editions	My rating:
	A General Theory of Love by Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, Richard Lannon 4.14 avg rating — 973 ratings — published 2000 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Et Cetera, Et Cetera: Notes of a Word-Watcher 4.04 avg rating — 28 ratings — 4 editions	My rating:
	Bir Tıp Gözlemcisinin Notları 4.00 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 1983	My rating:
	The Youngest Science: Notes Of A Medicine Watcher 4.00 avg rating — 3 ratings	My rating:
	A Long Line of Cells 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings	My rating:

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Quotes by Lewis Thomas

“The greatest of all the accomplishments of 20th century science has been the discovery of human ignorance”
― Lewis Thomas

tags: ignorance

12 people liked it

“The capacity to blunder slightly is the real marvel of DNA. Without this special attribute, we would still be anaerobic bacteria and there would be no music.”
― Lewis Thomas, Lives of a Cell, The

tags: science

10 people liked it

“Statistically, the probability of any one of us being here is so small that you'd think the mere fact of existing would keep us all in a contented dazzlement of surprise. ”
― Lewis Thomas

9 people liked it

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Comfort Reads: Suggestions & Questions	113	390	Oct 23, 2011 09:15am
The History Book ...: SCIENCE	41	21	Apr 21, 2012 09:02pm
All Ears Audiobooks: Which one did you just finish?	693	488	May 26, 2012 05:59pm

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Lewis Thomas

Author profile

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Quotes by Lewis Thomas

Topics Mentioning This Author

combine editions
Books by Lewis Thomas