Patricia Highsmith Patricia Highsmith Patricia Highsmith (January 19, 1921 – February 4, 1995) was an American novelist and short story writer best known for her psychological thrillers, including her series of five novels featuring the character Tom Ripley. She wrote 22 novels and numerous short stories throughout her career spanning nearly five decades, and her work has led to more than two dozen film adaptations. Her writing derived influence from existentialist literature, and questioned notions of identity and popular morality. She was dubbed "the poet of apprehension" by novelist Graham Greene. Her first novel, "Strangers on a Train", has been adapted for
Patricia S. Cowings They have a son, Christopher Michael Cowings Toscano, who traveled with them as they trained space crews. Today, she continues her work helping to prevent motion sickness for astronauts in space, as well as helping control motion sickness for their return home. She is the principal investigator of Psychophysiological Research Laboratories at NASA Ames Research Center, and has held adjunct professorships in Psychiatry at UCLA and both medical and clinical psychology at the uniformed services university. (ARC). Her research and teaching has garnered her several awards, including: Patricia S. Cowings Patricia S. Cowings (born 1948) is an aerospace psychophysiologist, and