Crichton intended to practice medicine, Esherick said, writing his novels first as a form of personal entertainment, and eventually as means to support himself through medical school. His first five books were published under the pen names John Lange and Jeffrey Hudson.

He graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1969, the same year that his book “A Case of Need” won an Edgar Award, a prestigious prize in the mystery genre. Upon receiving the award, Crichton decided to dedicate his career to his part-time job as an author and publish under his own name.

Professional And Best-Selling

Over the course of just over 40 years, Crichton published more than 25 novels and was credited on 13 films. Collectively, 200 million copies of his books have been sold worldwide.

The film adaptation of “Jurassic Park” (1993) was a huge success, globally grossing over $914 million. Connecting his experience in medicine to his career in writing, Crichton created the Emmy-winning medical drama ER, which was on the air from 1994-2009.

On a memorial page to Crichton, ER executive producer John Wells was quoted, “Michael Crichton was an extraordinary man. Brilliant, funny, erudite, gracious, exceptionally inquisitive and always thoughtful. No lunch with Michael lasted less than three hours and no subject was too prosaic or obscure to attract his interest.”

—Staff writer Conor J. Reilley can be reached at conor.reilley@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @c_reilley.