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You could never accuse Theodor Seuss Geisel of lacking imagination—but there is one thing he was not: a medical doctor.
The children’s author known worldwide as Dr. Seuss created a playful universe that has inspired countless films and television adaptations, including The Cat in the Hat, in theaters today, Nov. 6. Despite the celebrated title, however, Geisel never earned a traditional doctorate.
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According to Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel: A Biography, he briefly attended Oxford while pursuing a Ph.D. but ultimately left the program to concentrate on his writing career.
Geisel adopted the pen name as a tribute to his father, who had always hoped his son would become a doctor. After using the title for decades, he eventually received the real distinction when Dartmouth College, his alma mater, awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1956.
So how did The Cat in the Hat come to life? By the time he wrote the classic, Geisel had already published several books. In the 1950s, a director at Houghton Mifflin challenged him to create a children’s book using a limited list of words—without making the story feel dull or unnatural.