Carrel, Alexis

born June 28, 1873, Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, Fra.

died Nov. 5, 1944, Paris

French surgeon, sociologist, and biologist.

He received a 1912 Nobel Prize for developing a way to suture (stitch) blood vessels and laid the groundwork for further studies of blood-vessel and organ transplantation. He also researched preservation of tissues outside the body and the application of the process to surgery, and he helped develop the Carrel-Dakin method of flushing wounds with an antiseptic. His writings include Man, the Unknown (1935), The Culture of Organs (with Charles A. Lindbergh, 1938), and Reflections on Life (1952).

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▪ French surgeon, sociologist, and biologist

born June 28, 1873, Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, France

died November 5, 1944, Paris

 French surgeon who received the 1912 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for developing a method of suturing blood vessels (blood vessel).

      Carrel received an M.D. (1900) from the University of Lyon. Soon after graduating, he became interested in the repair of blood vessels, and he developed a method to suture them together end-to-end with a minimum of stitches. This technique became essential for many surgical operations, including the transplantation of blood vessels and organs. In 1904 Carrel left France for the United States, working first at the University of Chicago and then at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York City. There he investigated the preservation of living tissues (tissue) outside the body, keeping organs or tissues alive—in one famous case, for more than 30 years—by circulating tissue-culture fluid through them. During World War I Carrel returned to France, where he helped to develop the Carrel-Dakin method (Dakin's solution) of treating wounds with antiseptic fluids in order to prevent infection. After 1919 he continued his work at the Rockefeller Institute until 1939, when he returned to France. In 1941 he became director of the French Foundation for the Study of Human Problems in Paris. His book Man, the Unknown (1935) expounded many of his religious and social ideas.

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