First Transplant Surgeon, The: The Flawed Genius Of Nobel Prize Winner, Alexis Carrel

by David Hamilton

Overview

This is a new account, of how, in the early 1900s, the French-born surgeon Alexis Carrel (1873-1944) set the groundwork for the later success in human organ transplantation, and gained America's first Nobel Prize in 1912. His other contributions were the first operations on the heart, and the first cell culture methods. He was prominent in military surgery in WW1, and in the 1930s, gained further fame when collaborating with the aviator Charles Lindbergh on an organ perfusion pump.But controversy followed his every move, including concerns over scientific misconduct, notably his claim to have obtained 'immortal' heart cells, now shown to be fraudulent. In 1934, he authored a best-selling book Man, the Unknown based on his strongly-held conservative, spiritual, political and eugenic views, adding a belief in faith healing and parapsychology. He settled in Paris in WW2 under the German occupation, believing that the conditions would allow him to refashion the degenerate Western civilization. His extremist views re-emerged in the 1990s when they proved interesting to right-wing politicians, and in a bizarre twist, jihadist Islamists now laud his criticisms of the West.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789814699365
Publisher:	World Scientific Publishing Company, Incorporated
Publication date:	11/08/2016
Pages:	608
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.80(h) x 3.70(d)

Table of Contents

The Author v

Prologue vii

Acknowledgements xv

Chapter 1 Lyon Days 1

Chapter 2 New Life in North America 33

Chapter 3 Early Years at the Institute 71

Chapter 4 Carrel Established 105

Chapter 5 The Birth of Tissue Culture 129

Chapter 6 The Nobel Prize 151

Chapter 7 Heart and Blood Vessel Surgery 165

Chapter 8 War in France 189

Chapter 9 The Demonstration Hospital 231

Chapter 10 Early 1920s Research 259

Chapter 11 Life in the 1920s 287

Chapter 12 Confidence Gone 315

Chapter 13 His Book - Man, the Unknown 335

Chapter 14 The Organ Pump 373

Chapter 15 Wider Involvement 393

Chapter 16 Retirement Nears 433

Chapter 17 To France and Back 463

Chapter 18 Back to France 479

Chapter 19 Aftermath 521

Bibliography and Sources 561

Index 577