Eliot Freidson (1923-2005) is considered one of the founders of the sociology of medicine. Both his critics and admirers in the sociological and medical fields recognize his work as an international benchmark. This paper analyzes Freidson's intellectual biography without concentrating on his ideas or their transformation over the course of time. The emphasis is on the personal constraints that marked his intellectual career within a broader context, with the many different opportunities and choices. It establishes the intersection between the singular trajectory of an intellectual, and the structures, processes and events in which he was immersed and which he changed by his actions.