E. Donnall Thomas has pioneered techniques for transplanting bone marrow, an operation that has been utilized to treat patients with cancers of the blood, such as leukemia. For proving that such transplants could save the lives of dying patients, Thomas was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology of medicine in 1990 (he shared the award with Joseph E. Murray).

E. Donnall Thomas was born on March 15, 1920, in the small town of Mart, Texas. After graduating from a high school class of approximately fifteen students, Thomas entered the University of Texas at Austin in 1937. He received a B.A. in 1941 and continued on for a master's degree, which was awarded in 1943.

After completing his master's degree, Thomas started medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. After six months, however, he transferred to Harvard Medical School, where he received his M.D. in 1946. He became an intern...