Thomas, Lewis

born Nov. 25, 1913, Flushing, N.Y., U.S.

died Dec. 3, 1993, New York City

U.S. physician and author.

He attended medical school at Harvard and later taught at various universities. He was president of New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (1973–83). He translated his passionate interest in and wonder at the intricate mysteries of biology into lucid meditations and reflections on biology in award-winning essays. The best-known of his widely read books is The Lives of a Cell (1974, National Book Award).

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▪ 1994

      U.S. physician and author (b. Nov. 25, 1913, Flushing, N.Y.—d. Dec. 3, 1993, New York, N.Y.), translated his passionate interest in and wonder at the intricate mystery of the Earth's biology into a series of finely crafted, award-winning essays that reached a wide audience. Thomas was the son of a doctor and a nurse. He graduated from Princeton University at age 19 and earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School at 23. He went on to work at various universities, serving as researcher, educator, and administrator, as well as pathologist, pediatrician, bacteriologist, and epidemiologist. He joined the staff of New York University in 1954, and in 1966 he became dean of the School of Medicine there. In 1969 Thomas moved to Yale University, where in 1972 he became dean of the School of Medicine. From 1971 to 1980 Thomas wrote a column for the New England Journal of Medicine entitled "Notes of a Biology Watcher"; some of these essays were collected into a book, The Lives of a Cell (1974), which won the National Book Award in 1975 in the arts and letters category. From 1973 to 1980 he served as president of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Other works include The Medusa and the Snail (1979), Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler's Ninth Symphony (1983), and The Fragile Species (1992).

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▪ American physician and author

born Nov. 25, 1913, Flushing, N.Y., U.S.

died Dec. 3, 1993, New York, N.Y.

      American physician, researcher, author, and teacher best known for his essays, which contain lucid meditations and reflections on a wide range of topics in biology.

      Lewis attended Princeton University, Princeton, N.J., and Harvard Medical School (M.D., 1937). He served in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps and taught at Johns Hopkins and Tulane universities and at the University of Minnesota Medical School. In 1954 he moved to New York University School of Medicine, which he left as dean in 1969 to teach in the pathology department at Yale University. From 1973 to 1983 he was president of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

      Thomas' first book, The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher (1974), was a collection of 29 essays originally written for the New England Journal of Medicine. His later essays were collected in The Medusa and the Snail (1979), The Youngest Science (1983), Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler's Ninth Symphony (1983), and The Fragile Species (1992).

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