Alexis Carrel

Alexis Carrel (1873–1944) was a French surgeon and biologist who won the 1912 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work developing techniques to suture blood vessels and organs, making organ transplantation possible.

A brilliant but controversial figure, Carrel eventually also wrote Man the Unknown, a great work of speculative science that became a bestseller by arguing about the future direction of human societies in ways that later proved venomous. Associated in his late years with Vichy France, he died in wartime, a figure whose gifted surgery and dark politics continue to haunt his legacy.