Some things you might not know about Michael Crichton, author of Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain and creator of the TV show ER: He knew how to read auras and tarot cards. He was exceptionally tall—6-foot-9. He had a massive collection of pop art. He had multiple degrees from Harvard, including an MD, although he never practiced medicine.
Most importantly for Joanna Radin, PhD—and unbeknownst to Crichton, who died in 2008—he helped inspire her career, which blossomed over time from a budding curiosity about the cultural power of DNA as a pre-teen into her current role, which she describes as “historian of biomedical futures.”
Radin is an associate professor in Yale School of Medicine’s Section of the History of Medicine, a core member of the Yale Program in History of Science and Medicine, and a co-editor of the Science as Culture series at the University of Chicago Press.
Click here to read more.