Dr. Alexis Carrel

Dr. Carrel became a figure of major importance in Lindbergh's life. Berg presents him as a father figure, stating that "in Dr. Carrel, the hero found a hero—the first since his father; and Carrel found a son." Lindbergh is introduced to Carrel in 1930, when Lindbergh inquires about why an artificial pump could not be used to circulate blood during an operation on his sister-in-law's heart and is told that the doctor is working on just such a thing. Carrel was the first surgeon awarded the Nobel Prize, in 1912, for work on the grafting of blood vessels and organs. He was researching the artificial heart question for the Rockefeller Institute of Medical Research, where he was well respected but also considered somewhat of an oddball for his interest in holistic medicine and the occult. Like Lindbergh, Carrel was a man of broad interests, who sought to...