Beyond What Nature Intends
When he was 17,/Hugh Herr was one of America’s most prominent rock climbers.// But he had a severe accident while climbing.// In this lesson,/we will find out how he coped with hardship/and developed his career.//
　　Hugh Herr was a born climber.// By age 8,/he had scaled the face of 11,627-foot Mt. Temple/in southern Alberta, Canada.// Later,/he began climbing without a rope.// He ascended tough climbing routes,/some of which no adult had ever attempted before.// By the time he was a teenager,/Herr was one of the top rock climbers on the East Coast.//
Climbing Accident//
　　In January 1982,/17-year-old Hugh Herr and his friend,/Jeff Batzer,/age 20,/set out to climb Mt. Washington.// Located in New Hampshire,/Mt. Washington is the highest peak/in the Northeastern United States,/at 6,288 feet.// Their climb began in reasonable weather,/but winters in New Hampshire can be brutal,/and very quickly,/the two boys were fighting 100-mile-per-hour winds.// The temperature dropped/to a windchill factor of minus 110 degrees Fahrenheit.//

　　The boys became disoriented.// Herr slipped and fell into a river,/and they were stranded on the wilderness side of Mt. Washington.// Cell phones did not yet exist,/so the boys were on their own/as the winds howled and the temperature dropped.//
　　“We survived/by building snow caves/and hugging each other to stay warm,”/Herr said later.// They lost track of time.// One day passed and then another.//
　　“When you’re hypothermic,/you can’t think clearly,”/Herr said.// “So even though we were approaching four days,/we thought we were still in the same 24-hour day.”//
　　Hypothermia gave way to surrender.// “We were no longer able to walk,”/Herr said.// “We just gave up all hope/and we actually stopped hugging each other to stay warm.// We just reasoned the sooner we died,/the better.”//
　　Almost by a miracle,/the two boys were discovered by a snowshoer,/and that evening they were airlifted to a hospital.//


“Walk, Not Climb”//
　　Herr woke up after surgery/to find that he had lost both legs below the knee/from frostbite.// A nurse tried to offer encouragement/by telling him that he would be able to walk with artificial legs.// He was given crude plaster legs/and, eventually, acrylic ones.//
　　When Herr asked the doctors/if he would ever be able to climb again,/they answered,/“Walk, not climb.”// They told him that he would be able to drive a car,/using hand controls,/but not to ride a bike/or return to mountain climbing.//
　　Herr told his friends/that the artificial legs were far more rudimentary/than he had hoped they would be.// He said,/“This is it?// Are you kidding me?”//
Back to the Mountains//
　　The doctors were wrong.// Herr started climbing again/while he was still in the rehabilitation center.//
　　First,/he noticed that/because the amputations had left him 14 pounds lighter,/he was able to move faster than before.// He realized that there was no reason/that his new feet needed to mimic his old ones.// He started to make his own modifications/to his artificial legs.// He cut off the heel to reduce weight,/increased his legs’ stiffness where it was useful,/added spikes for ice climbing,/and made feet narrow enough/to stick in small cracks.//
　　Soon,/thanks to various types of prosthetic legs,/Herr’s climbing was better than ever.// He began ascending rock faces/that he actually could not have climbed before his accident.//
　　Herr was again a major competitor/in the climbing world.// Just one year after the accident on Mt. Washington,/he was featured on the cover of Outside Magazine .//


Next Step//
　　Herr had never been much interested in school.// His goal was to be the best mountain climber in the world.// He had no interest in even going to college.//
　　Inspired by his accident,/Herr decided to attend college,/where he enrolled in math and science courses.// He even earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering/at MIT in 1993,/followed by a Ph.D. at Harvard in biophysics.// Since then,/Herr has produced a string of breakthrough products,/starting with a computer-controlled artificial knee in 2003.// In 2004,/he created the biomechatronics group at MIT,/a now 40-person R&D lab/drawing on the fields of biology,/mechanics,/and electronics/to restore function to those who have lost it.//
　　In 2007,/the team produced powered bionic limbs/that allow an amputee/to walk with speed and effort/comparable to people with biological legs.// The ankle system is manufactured/by a private company Herr started.//
　　In 2016,/Herr advanced another of his lab’s goals:/to improve human performance/“beyond what nature intends”/by creating an innovative device/that saves energy when you are walking.// The implications are vast/for people who want to get to places faster,/or people who want to conserve energy on a long walk.//
　　In the near future,/Herr and his colleagues at the MIT center/are committed to treating paralysis/caused by damage to the spinal cord.// Herr’s goal is to develop a synthetic spinal cord/that aids the original.//
　　Herr sees a future/where technology not only helps eliminate disability/but also increases human potential.// He believes his research will extend far beyond limb replacement/and will fundamentally redefine what it means to be human.//