Hugh mr

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Hugh Herr (2013)

Hugh Miller Herr (born October 25, 1964 in Lancaster , USA) is an American biophysicist and a bilateral amputee extreme mountaineer.

Early mountaineering career

Hugh Herr was the youngest of children in a Mennonite family in the Pennsylvania town of Lancaster . Even as a child he was considered an unusual climbing talent and at the age of eight he climbed Mount Temple (3747 m) in the Canadian Rocky Mountains . At a young age, he climbed extremely difficult routes in the Yosemite Valley and in the climbing areas of the Shawangunks in the eastern United States. At seventeen he was named one of the best climbers in the United States .

North side of Mount Temple

On January 22, 1982, Hugh Herr, then 17, and 20-year-old Jeffrey Batzer broke to Mount Washington and climbed the Odell's Gully, which was extremely difficult in winter. Near the summit they got caught in a snow storm. Mount Washington is only 1916 m high, but notorious for the stormy weather: at 392 km / h, the highest wind speed in the world near the ground was measured in the 20th century (outside of typhoons). They came on the descent to the other side of the mountain, far from any help, while a search party searched on the side of their ascent, in the Huntington Ravine, where the mountain guide Albert Dow was killed by an avalanche. After three days, they were found by chance near death, a military helicopter flew them to the nearest hospital in Littleton; after two weeks, Mr. was taken to Philadelphia, but the vascular surgeons were unable to save his frozen legs. They were taken from him just below his knees. The death of Albert Dow caused strong feelings of guilt and was later also a drive to turn to bionics .

The second climbing career

His university career was intertwined with lengthy rehabilitation after losing his legs. He did what the doctors thought impossible: he resumed climbing, built prostheses that allowed him to stand on small steps and made them telescopic and changeable. This allowed him to vary his height from five feet (152.4 cm) to eight feet (243.8 cm!) And while climbing he could use holds that were out of reach for normal climbers. With various end tools as “feet” (titanium spikes for ice climbing, friction pads for granite climbing, etc.) and iron training, he climbed better than before his amputation. He made athletic first ascents, in which he was also favored by his body weight, which was reduced as a result of the amputation. Abromeit writes: “With his artificial legs he climbs better than he used to with his healthy ones. Some of his routes are so exhausting that no one succeeds in following them for years. "

Some of Herr's notable climbing endeavors include:

  • 1983 Vandals , Shawangunks, first ascent with Lynn Hill and Russ Clune, the first route of difficulty 5.13 on the east coast
  • 1984 Stage Fright , Cathedral Ledge, North Conway, New Hampshire, first ascent, difficulty 5.12c X
  • 1986 Ride of the Valkyries , Careno Crag, Leavenworth (Washington) , first ascent, 5.12a
  • 1986 City Park , Index Town Walls, Washington. 2nd inspection, 5.13c
  • 2005 Via Cassin, UIAA VII-, Preussturm ( Kleinste Zinne , Cima Picolissima): As the first rope, Herr led the two blind climbers Erik Weihenmayer from Colorado (USA) and Andy Holzer from East Tyrol

Scientific career

At the same time, after attending Millersville University, near his hometown , he studied mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and biophysics at Harvard University with a Ph.D. degree. His goal was clear to him relatively early on: He didn't want to simply replace missing limbs with more or less mechanical aids. His ambition continued: with the help of bionics, to simulate all functions of moving body parts (muscles, tendons and their innervation).

Hugh Herr on the MIT climbing wall at the Media Lab's h2.0 symposium in May 2007, observed by Aimee Mullins

Bionics

After completing his doctorate at MIT, Mr. Herr started as a postdoctoral fellow researching biomechanical aids that emulate the functionality of the human leg. He became an associate professor at both universities where he studied and heads the Biomechatronics department in the MIT Media Lab as part of the Media Arts and Sciences program . In addition to the further development of prosthetics, the laboratory also deals with the development of robotic systems that are intended to increase or improve human physical abilities.

Mr. has published a large number of papers in the field of rehabilitation and holds, in part with others, more than forty patents. They relate to movement aids, including a computer-controlled artificial knee that can "learn" with the help of microprocessors, and the first electrically operated active ankle. The computer knee was recognized by Time Magazine in 2004 as one of the ten best inventions in the "Health" category, and in 2007 Time Magazine recognized Mr.

Hugh Herr received the 13th Heinz Award for Technology, The Economy and Employment in 2007 and the Spirit of da Vinci Award in 2008 . In the same year, MIT held a symposium, Media Lab's h2.0, at which Herr demonstrated the advances in bionics and demonstrated it himself on the institute's climbing wall. The high-performance athlete Aimee Mullins , who is amputated on both legs and is now a popular fashion model , also took part in the symposium .

Among other things, Herr is working on the development of an exoskeleton that expands the physical limits of the resilience of human bones, especially the spine: the ability to carry higher loads or to jump onto the ground from a great height without damage. His big dream is the neural connection between man and machine, and he no longer wants to exchange his artificial legs for natural legs:

“I am a future model. Man and machine are about to merge. "( Hugh Herr : Berg 2013, Alpenvereinsjahrbuch Volume 137, Tyrolia-Verlag, Innsbruck-Vienna, 2013, ISBN 978-3-937530-60-4 )

The Pistorius case

Hugh Herr's prediction that the “artificial”, bionic human being will soon be superior to the natural body, reached the threshold of realization in 2008 with the dispute over the South African runner Oscar Pistorius . In the dispute over whether the amputated Pistorius would have an advantage over the healthy competitors with his carbon legs, the IAAF (the World Athletics Association) rejected Pistorius' participation in competitions with non-disabled athletes on the basis of an opinion by biomechanics professor Gert-Peter Brüggemann. An MIT team with Hugh Herr and Rodger Kram found that the advantages of artificial lower legs were offset by disadvantages, and the CAS International Court of Justice overturned the decision on May 16, 2008.

The full results of the study were published in the Journal of Applied Physiology on June 18, 2009.

Private

Hugh Herr is married to the writer Patricia Ellis Herr and the couple have two daughters.

Literary

The neural connection between man and machine sought by Hugh Herr was already discussed by Stanisław Lem in his late novel Fiasko in 1986 . On Saturn's moon Titan, several dozen meters high “large striders” (rest mass 1680 tons) are used, which Lem calls “ diglators ”. These "were a potentiation of the concept of an exoskeleton, as it - as an external amplifier of the human body - was already known from many prototypes of the 20th century". At Lem, the Diglator is controlled by a pilot wearing an overall with thousands of integrated sensors, which transmits the movement impulses of the human brain for the muscles to the mechanical movement of steel arms, legs and grippers.

At the TED conference, Herr will be presenting bionic legs that can be used to walk with neural control

Honourings and prices

  • 1989: Sports Hall of Fame
  • 1990: United States College Academic Team
  • 1990: Young American Award
  • 2003: Science magazine Next Wave, Best of 2003
  • 2004: TIME magazine Top Ten Inventions 2004
  • 2004: Funding of $ 7.2 million from the Providence VA Center for Restorative and Regenerative Medicine, Brown University, and the US Department of Veterans Affairs for the development of "biohybrid" limbs that replace natural functions for amputees
  • 2005: Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Leadership Award
  • 2007: 13th Heinz Award in Technology, the Economy and Employment
  • 2007: TIME magazine Top Ten Inventions 2007
  • 2008: Action Maverick Award
  • 2008: Spirit of Da Vinci Award
  • 2014: R&D Magazine's Innovator of the Year
  • 2014: Smithsonian magazine's American Ingenuity Award (2014) in the Technology Category
  • 2016: Princess of Asturias Prize for Technical and Scientific Research

Literature about mr

  • Alison Osius: Second Ascent: The Story of Hugh Herr , Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg (PA) 1991, ISBN 978-0-8117-1794-6
  • Thomas Häuser: Higher, faster, further , in Die Zeit , No. 27 of June 28, 2007, edited July 3, 2007.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Best Foot Forward ed = Boston Magazine, March 2009. February 18, 2009, accessed October 6, 2018 (English).
  2. ↑ a b c Lars Abromeit: Climbing without legs , in: Berg 2013, Alpenvereinsjahrbuch Volume 137, Tyrolia-Verlag, Innsbruck - Vienna, 2013, ISBN 978-3-937530-60-4
  3. ^ Alison Osius: Second Ascent: The Story of Hugh Herr , Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg (Pennsylvania), 1991, ISBN 978-0-8117-1794-6
  4. ^ National Geographic Channel: Ascent - The Story of Hugh Herr. YouTube, accessed October 6, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Hugh Herr: New bionics let us run, climb and dance. TED Channel, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  6. ^ Todd Balf: The Biomechatronic Man. Outside Magazine, September 6, 2017, accessed October 6, 2018 .
  7. ^ Lindsay Carswell: New Robotic Knee. Science Central, February 12, 2005, accessed October 6, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Emily Singer and Duncan Graham-Rowe: Biomedicine: The World's First Powered Ankle. MIT Technology Review, May 11, 2007, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  9. ^ David Roberts: Reinventing The Human Machine - Men's Fitness. MIT, December 2013, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Christian Fuchs: IAAF does not give Oscar Pistorius permission to start. www.leichtathletik.de, January 14, 2008, accessed on February 14, 2013 .
  11. ^ Britanny Sauser: Amputee Gets a Shot at the Olympics. MIT Technology Review, May 21, 2008, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  12. ↑ Peter G. Weyand, Peter W. Bundle, Craig P. McGowan, Alena Grabowski, Beth Brown, Rodger Kram and Hugh Herr: The fastest runner on artificial legs: different limbs, similar function? Journal of Applied Physiology, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  13. ^ Stanisław Lem: Fiasco . Translation by Hubert Schumann. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1986, ISBN 978-3-10-043302-2 . P. 37
  14. ^ Smooth Operator - The Best Inventions Of 2004. Time Magazine, September 19, 2004, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  15. ↑ http://www.heinzawards.net
  16. ^ Joint Venture - The Best Inventions Of 2007. Time Magazine, November 1, 2007, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  17. ^ Action Maverick. STREB, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  18. ↑ Spirit Of Da Vinci Award Goes To MIT Bio-Mechantron Professor - Amputee Designing The Next Generation Of Prostheses. Medical News Today, September 12, 2008, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  19. ↑ Lindsay Hock: R&D Magazine Announces Scientist and Innovator of the Year Award Winners. R&D Magazine, August 12, 2014, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  20. ^ Princess of Asturias Award for Technical & Scientific Research 2016 - Hugh Herr. The Princess of Asturias Foundation, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  21. ↑ [1]
personal data
SURNAME Lord, Hugh
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mr. Hugh Miller (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American biophysicist and extreme mountaineer with amputation on both sides
DATE OF BIRTH October 25, 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH Lancaster , USA