A Short Summary: The Discovery Of Henrietta Marie

Rebecca Skloot wrote The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. It was published in New York by Broadway Books in 2010 and has 381 pages. In 1951, Henrietta Lacks died of cervical cancer and this book is about the mistreatment that she endured as an African American woman by doctors before and after her death.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is an amazing, real life story about an African American woman in 1950’s United States who contributed to science without ever knowing, but written from the author, Rebecca Skloot’s perspective as a scientific investigator. In the beginning of the book we learn a lot about Henrietta from her rough childhood to her marriage and five kids. From the start of this book it is obvious that Henrietta knows she is sick. She found a lump on her cervix so she went to the free clinic for African Americans at Johns Hopkins Hospital. It was determined that this “knot” that Mrs. Lacks found was a tumor. During the process of testing and treating the tumor with radium xray, Dr. George Gay had some of the tumor’s tissue

In the first couple chapters of this book, one could tell how major the relationship was between Henrietta and the effects she had on society as a whole. The author had already addressed how Henrietta’s cells have helped humanity cure a number of diseases and discover numerous vaccines. This book

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is about a poor African-American woman that died from cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1950, but in the end it turns into religion and spirituality. I know that there are many religions, but do not know much about religion and how it can affect people’s lives. The book also shows how Lack’s family believes in God, the struggle of Lack’s family with the creation of those cells, how the cells got used by people, and the sad part when Deborah wants to know who her mother was and the Lacks family could not afford a health insurance.

Henrietta Lacks was born in 1920, the eight of ten children. Her mother died in 1924, and her father took all the children to the family’s home in Clover,Virginia and made them split up to live with different relatives.Lacks was placed with her grandfather, Tommy Lacks.They lived in a four room cabin that was once used for slavery. This cabin became the biggest part of her life. Henrietta was pretty popular in high school. She was very gorgeous, so she got a lot of attention from boys. Her affections came from her cousins Day and “Crazy Joe”. The cousin, Day, was the boy she had stayed with in the cabin ever since she was young. They had two children. One was Lawerence and the other was Elsie, who was mentally retarded. Henrietta and Day ended up getting married two years after Elsie’s birth.

Prior to reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks I had heard of the HeLa cells and their contribution to medical research, but I had never really known where they had come from. In fact, I had never even associated the cells I heard about with an actual human being before reading this book. I found the book intriguing in the way it interweaves the story of the Lack’s family with the scientific history, racial politics, and medical ethics. Not only did I learned a lot about the science surrounding the HeLa cells and the nature of medical ethics, I also learned about Henrietta and her family. Learning about the Lack’s family along with how much the HeLa cells have contributed to science helps to humanize the story and make it more than a scientific history and a

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a book like a timeline going first her biography, then her childhood to her tragic death; the story of her family over various decades; Skloot’s research and her relationship with the Lacks family, especially Deborah; and the story of the HeLa cells. Tells an interesting story of a clash between race, ethics, and medicine; about a daughter overwhelm with questions about the mother she never knew. Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells were taken without her knowledge in 1951 and they became one of the most important tools in medicine. They were essential for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and more. A doctor

The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks, this book is intriguing. The contribution of the of the “HeLa cell” it created tremendous bounds in the advancement of science. However, the experiences were dreadful, the Lack’s family went through a lot of it to deliver this to the scientific community. The bias in American health care at the time were unacceptable, therefore, she experienced the atrocious service provided there by the people who worked there. Just reading about what she went through with the service from a hospital, she had a horrendous fever, the doctors wrote she was in acceptable health, this on any standards is unsatisfactory she went for help, is receiving inadequate care. This is unacceptable, discrimination just grinds my gears.

Henrietta's cells were researched on and everyone would talk about it.  These powerful cells contributed to virology, cell culture and genetics.  Without henrietta's cells they wouldn't have found the cure for polio, and many other diseases without a cure at that time. Henrietta Lacks is one of the most important people in 20th century of medicine. She was a big help to find different cures. Most of this research went on without anyones permission and not letting anyone know about it. It was not until an article was published about Henrietta Lacks and HeLa that her family found out how meaningful their family was to the science world.  Though scientific in topic, the story is human, touching on matters of race, socioeconomics, ethics, love and

This article, pertaining to the trial of Anne Hutchinson in 1637, explains how a New England religious leader and midwife by the name of Hutchinson was placed on trial before a civil court for sedition, punished with banishment by the General Court of Massachusetts, and excommunicated by the Church of Boston. One of the reasons for her prosecution was the fact that she was holding religious centered meetings in her house that aimed to lead discussions of religious issues which was frowned upon by the local government and was viewed as expressing opinions dangerous to authority. The article then goes on to layout the charges brought against Anne Hutchinson, as stated by John Winthrop "Mrs. Hutchinson,

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is telling the story of an African American women, the woman’s cells became important and spread the word in history. Skloots also included in her book how did her family affected the story, it also stated that her cells is worth a millions of dollars, but they didn’t get anything out of it. Skloot includes a terrifying glance about America’s -prominence: segregation based on economic status and race.

When the occupation of a religious man is brought into thought, words like honest, humble, forgiving, or righteous are considered to be associated. Words like hard working, truthful, and effective are brought up when talking about a supervisor. These traits are needed in order to become a high-quality leader among men. From time to time though, selfishness corrupts men. Chaucer criticizes the trait of selfishness as a character trait in The Canterbury Tales.

One of the most prolific eras in our world’s history is the Scientific Revolution. During this time men began to think outside the realm of possibility and delved themselves deep into the exciting unknown world of science. The innovative minds of these people churned out inventions like gunpowder and the printing press, as well as, inventive new ways of thinking like the scientific method. Aside from the inventors and innovators, there were also the publicists and writers without whom no one would know or understand the new ideas of the time. One such person was Margaret Cavendish who was born and raised in England. She received the same education that a lady during her time did. However, due to her husband, Sir Charles Cavendish, she was exposed to the world of science. The subject intrigued her so much that she ended up publishing her own theory on atoms. Though her atomic theory contains many scientific Renaissance ideals, it is still seen as a major contribution of thought during the Scientific Revolution.

     Marie Curie was born, Maria Sklodowska on November 7, 1867. She grew up in Warsaw, Poland. She would become famous for her research on radioactivity. Marie Curie was the first woman to ever win a Nobel prize, and the first ever to win two Nobel prizes. She is most famous for the discovery of Radium and Polonium. Her work not only influenced the development of fundamental science, but also began a new era in medical research and treatment.

Marie Curie LIFE OF MARIE CURIE      Marie Curie(1867-1934) was a French physicist with many accomplishments in both physics and chemistry. Marie and her husband Pierre, who was also a French physicist, are both famous for their work in radioactivity.      Marie Curie, originally named Marja Sklodowska, was born in Warsaw, Poland on Nov.7, 1867. Her first learning of physics came from her father who taught it in high school. Marie's father must have taught his daughter well because in 1891, she went to Paris(where she changed her original name) and enrolled in the Sorbonne.