TEHRAN – A Persian translation of “Reflections on Life” by French author Alexis Carrel (1873-1944) has been published by Negah Publications in Tehran.

The book has been translated into Persian by Parviz Dabiri.

In this present volume, Carrel, the author of “Man the Unknown” makes clear why civilization is on the edge of an abyss and propounds three basic laws of nature in which, he believes, lies mankind’s only salvation, effects of chemical factors, effects of physical factors, and effects of physiological habits.

Carrel was a Nobel Prize-winning French surgeon and biologist. Born on June 28, 1873 in Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, Rhone, Carrel was raised in a devout Catholic family. He graduated from the University of Lyon, and later also received honorary doctorates from Queen’s University of Belfast, Princeton University, California, New York, Brown University and Columbia University. 

In 1903, he immigrated to Montreal, Canada, but soon relocated to Chicago, Illinois to work for Hull Laboratory. While there he collaborated with American physician Charles Claude Guthrie in work on vascular suture and the transplantation of blood vessels and organs as well as the head, for which Carrel was awarded the 1912 Nobel Prize in Physiology of Medicine. 

In 1906, he joined the newly formed Rockefeller Institute of Medical Research in New York where he spent the rest of his career. In the 1930s, Carrel became close friends with Charles A. Lindbergh, and together they built the first perfusion pump, an invention instrumental to the development of organ transplantation and open heart surgery. Carrel died in Paris on November 5, 1944, aged 71.

“The Voyage to Lourdes”, “Selected Papers in Physiology and Vascular Surgery” and “The culture of organs” are among his other praiseworthy books.

Photo: Front cover of a Persian translation of “Reflections on Life” by French author Alexis Carrel.

RM/MMS/YAW