On Thursday, July 17th, some 200 people gathered in the Jeanne Timmins Amphitheatre at the Montreal Neurological Institute & Hospital to celebrate the 96th birthday of Professor Brenda Milner.
Still very much an active researcher, Professor Milner has long been considered one of the bright lights in neuroscience, especially with regard to how memory works, and is recognized as one of the founders of cognitive neuroscience. As Michael Petrides, who also studies memory function, told the crowd of well-wishers, “In the late 1970s, when I was at Cambridge and thinking about where to do my postdoctoral fellowship, my PhD advisor said, ‘My dear, there’s only one place in the world: Brenda Milner.’”
The Neuro’s director, Guy Rouleau, noted that this year has been particularly special in terms of recognition for Milner’s profound influence on the development of tests to treat people suffering from traumatic injury, degenerative diseases and psychiatric illness. “Brenda’s had an illustrious career, but she did very well this year from the point of view of prizes. She won the prestigious Dan David Prize, and the prestigious Kavli Prize—and both in neuroscience, and those prizes aren’t awarded in neuroscience every year.
Read more in the McGill Reporter.
July 24, 2014