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.
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.