The character arc of Hugh Herr
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 25 October 1964 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the youngest of five in a Mennonite family. Between then and now sit an ascent of a Canadian Rockies peak at eight, a place among the best climbers in the country at seventeen, a blizzard on Mount Washington in January 1982 and three nights at minus twenty nine, both legs amputated below the knee, a volunteer killed in the rescue, prostheses he designed himself, a return to climbing at a higher standard than before, a professorship, and the world's first powered ankle-foot prosthesis. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Hugh Herr?
He lost both legs at seventeen, and climbed better after.
He was the youngest of five in a Mennonite family in Pennsylvania and a prodigy on rock: by eight he had climbed the face of an eleven thousand foot peak in the Canadian Rockies, and by seventeen he was acknowledged as one of the best climbers in the United States. In January 1982, after climbing a difficult ice route on Mount Washington in New Hampshire, he and his climbing partner were caught in a blizzard, became disoriented, and spent three nights in temperatures of minus twenty nine. By the time they were found both had severe frostbite. Both of his legs were amputated below the knee. During the search for them, a volunteer named Albert Dow was killed by an avalanche.
Months of surgery and rehabilitation followed, and then he did what doctors had told him was unthinkable: he climbed again. Not on standard prostheses, but on ones he designed himself. He made feet with very stiff toes that let him stand on rock edges the width of a coin, and titanium-spiked feet for steep ice, and he could change his height between five feet and eight to reach holds and avoid awkward positions. He ended up climbing harder than he had before the accident, and became the first person with a major amputation to compete in a sport at the same level as elite able-bodied athletes.
He then went and built the field. As a postdoctoral fellow at MIT he began working on advanced leg prostheses and orthoses, and he is now a professor at the MIT Media Lab, directing a biomechatronics group and co-directing a bionics centre. He holds the patents to a computer-controlled knee, sold commercially, and to the world's first powered ankle-foot prosthesis, which gives people with below-knee amputations a natural gait for the first time. Both were named among the top ten inventions of their year in the health category by a national magazine, in 2004 and 2007. Most of what he designs is not for him.
The moments
Hugh Herr's timeline.
The 1960s
Youngest of five
Everyday. A Mennonite family in Pennsylvania, and the youngest of five.
The 1970s
A peak at eight
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Eight years old, on a face in the Canadian Rockies.
The 1980s
One of the best in America
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Seventeen, and near the top of the sport.
Three nights on the mountain
Setback, and it changed everything. Three nights at minus twenty nine, both legs gone, and a man died looking for them.
Climb again, or not
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: design the legs, taken, or take what exists. He climbed at a higher standard than before the accident and went on to build the first powered ankle-foot prosthesis in the world.
He climbs again
Milestone, and it changed everything. Doctors said it was unthinkable, so he designed the legs and went back.
Feet for rock and ice
Milestone, and it changed everything. He built feet the human body does not come with, and climbed harder than before.
The 1990s
Into the laboratory
Milestone, and it changed his direction. From building his own legs to building everybody else's.
The 2000s
A knee that thinks
Milestone, and it changed everything. A knee with a processor in it, sensing the load a hundred times a second.
The first powered ankle
Milestone, and it changed everything. The first ankle in the world that pushes off, the way a real one does.
The 2010s
A professor at MIT
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Most of it is not for him, which is the sentence the whole page turns on.
The laboratory at MIT is full of limbs being built for other people, and he tests almost none of them on himself. What it has set moving walks around every day: a computer-controlled knee and a powered ankle that did not exist before a teenage climber lost his legs and decided the available equipment was not good enough.
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His lost both legs at seventeen and went on to design the ones other people walk on. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Hugh Herr: frequently asked questions
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Who was Albert Dow, and why is he on Hugh Herr's page?
Where does this timeline of Hugh Herr's life come from?
More character arcs
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Sources
- Hugh Herr, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
- Time magazine top ten inventions, health category, 2004 and 2007.
- MIT Media Lab, Biomechatronics group records.