Alexis Carrel was born in Lyons, France, and brought up by his devout Roman Catholic mother after his father, a textile manufacturer, died when Alexis was five. Carrel expressed an early interest in science by dissecting birds and conducting chemistry experiments. He received university degrees in both letters (1890) and science (1891) and then studied medicine at the University of Lyons, earning his medical degree in 1900. As a medical student working at hospitals in Lyons, Carrel displayed a deft talent for dissection and surgery. His interest in blood vessel surgery was aroused in 1894 when the French president, Marie Francois Carnot (1837-1894), was shot. The assassin's bullet severed a major artery, and Carnot bled to death because no techniques existed at the time to repair severed blood vessels. Carrel set out to develop such methods. He learned through embroidery lessons how to use very fine needles and silk thread. He used...