“We tend to think of our selves as the only wholly unique creations in nature, but it is not so. Uniqueness is so commonplace a property of living things that there is really nothing at all unique about it. A phenomenon can't be unique and universal at the same time.”

American physician, biologist and essayist

Lewis Thomas was an American physician, biologist, essayist, poet, and administrator. He lived from 1913 to 1993, and is best known for his thoughtful writing on science, medicine, and language. He was a longtime contributor to The New England Journal of Medicine, and his essays were gathered in several books. For The Lives of a Cell, he received the National Book Award in Arts and Letters and The Sciences. His work often moves between scientific observation and a broader reflection on how people understand the natural world.