Among many other things, Lewis Thomas was also a scientist. Lewis Thomas’ most famous discovery was when he injected rabbits with papain, a proteolytic enzyme, and found that when the rabbits were injected with it their ears were droopy. In his later life, Thomas won many awards for his outstanding scientific and administrative work. He even had two awards named after him. The one award that is named after him is called, the Lewis Thomas Prize, which is awarded by Rockefeller University each year for artistic achievement to a scientist. In 1993, Lewis Thomas died of a rare lymphoma-like cancer called, Waldenstrom’s disease.
Author’s Rhetoric The Lives of a Cell is composed of twenty-nine short essays that relate to science, and are basically…show more content… His first essay is solely on the connections between humanity and nature, and it brings up the point that humans need to take steps to fully understand our roles in nature. In another one of Thomas’ essays he speaks about an interesting topic, music. He discusses that in humans music is something that can relax, entertain, and be an escape from the real world. He states that all animals make different noises as part of a needed characteristic in biology. In the text there are examples of things animals do to put sound to use one is, “drumming, created by beating feet, is used by prairie hens, rabbits, and mice” (Thomas). Thomas also talks about the levels of how well humans are at things as compared to animals. One of these aspects is social talk, Thomas explains that language is the core of social behavior for humans, and that social behavior is the one thing that brings us to the level of…show more content… One source who found this writing to be effective, is Douglas Kamerow, who attended medical school, and attempted to read scientific and medical journals. He declares, “I understood virtually nothing in the august journal, and what I did understand I found uninteresting. Lewis Thomas’s Notes of a Biology Watcher column was the lone, wonderful, exception” (Kamero). Kamero goes on to say that Thomas’ essays gave him confidence that science and medicine can be interesting, and is able to be understood in more basic sorts of ways. Kamero was also astonished at the fact that a doctor could write in such an engaging way. Another source, an essay by Marc Rothenberg, is a bit criticizing of The Lives of a Cell. Rothenberg suggests, “It is not clear what sort of long-term impact will result from Thomas’ success with The Lives of a Cell...It is not at all certain, for example, what impact he has had on the health industry in the United States. Perhaps Thomas’ greatest contribution has been to popularize the notion of the philosophical exposition of scientific ideas and theories by members of the scientific community” (Rothenberg, 1989). In this quote Rothenberg is presenting that The Lives of a Cell, may not be the most effective book, as it has not really left any impact on the world of medicine or science. Rothenberg does not comment on Thomas’ writing being
