No Man Alone
"We know that our work is rightly both an instrument and an end. A great discovery is a thing of beauty; and our faith- our binding quiet faith- is that knowledge is good….So it is with us as scientists, so it is with us as men. We are at once instrument and end, discoveries and teachers, actors and observers." __Robert Oppenheimer in his Reith Lecture " Science and Common Understanding." 1953
I’ve just finished reading the book No Man Alone- A Neurosurgeon’s Life by Wilder Penfield, a famous American neurosurgeon and neuroscientist, who once worked with many big guys of neuroscience in the 20th century like Sherrington, Cushing, and Cajal. He himself is the first to discover oligodendrocytes in the brain, an expert on brain surgery, and he is also a good leader to build a neurological institute in Montreal. He was most active during the 1930’s as a young man in his thirties, both on medicine and research. His good and simple writing made it a popular autobiography for medical students. At least in the book I was reading, there are many pen underlines. I admire this type of people whose life is like a legend…most important I find strength from the book to carry on my own life, as a scientist, as a doctor and as a man……
