Hugh Herr
Hugh Herr was the best rock climber on the east coast at age 17.
He embarked on an adventurous hike with a friend on Mount Washington, known for severe weather, and the two were trapped in a snowstorm with negative 20-degree weather. They were found
only four days later and Herr's severe frostbite resulted in amputation of
both of his legs. His friend lost a legs and fingers as well. Herr was outraged and
disappointed but also stubborn and not ready to accept his fate. Though doctors
told Herr he would never climb again, his creativity and intrinsic motivation
to climb helped him create advances to continue his passion.
Herr began to experiment with prosthetics because the
prosthetics at the time looked like legs but did not function like the ones he
wanted as an athletic young man. Herr attended MIT and Harvard and created
prosthetic legs that were unique to activities he was involved in, such as adding
blades for climbing. Hugh was the first to create bionic limbs the actually
emulated the function of natural limbs and allowed for activities like running.
He is a divergent thinker who was able to see past prosthetics as a worse
replacement to an actual limb but turned them into a technology that made his
own life and the lives of others exceptional. Herr provided hope for millions of
other with physical disabilities and changed the field of prosthetics
completely. His breakthrough advances and over 150 peer-reviewed papers and
patents changed physical ability not only for people in his condition but also
for caretakers and individuals for a variety of disabilities by creating the
first autonomous exoskeleton.
“The artificial part of my body is beyond
immortal. It’s improving with time.” –Hugh Herr
https://www.media.mit.edu/people/hherr/overview/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blogs/secretlife/engineering/hugh-herr/
Super interesting blog post! I knew prosthetic limbs were very medically adavnced in technology but its interesting to read how profound the impact is for people who need it.
ReplyDeleteIt is so fascinating to read that his prosthetics are improving with time and that they are in a way better than his boring human legs because these prosthetics have allowed him to perform better and in a way he could not have before. It is a little scary how far technology can take us and be better.
ReplyDeleteThis post reminded me of the story we heard in class of the father who dedicated his life to creating an insulin regulator after his son was diagnosed with diabetes. Herr is a fascinating example of someone whose creative breakthroughs stem from a very personal experience. Not only was he intrinsically motivated by his own problem of creating prosthetics for athletic people, but he also seems to have been motivated by the adversity he experienced to accomplish so much in his field.
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