What if a bionic leg is so good that someone chooses to amputate?
by Jemima Kiss from Technology | The Guardian on (#6PF6)
Hugh Herr, a double amputee, top mountain climber and biophysicist, has done inspiring work aimed at eliminating disability
Hugh Herr says he wants to eliminate disability. After 50 minutes listening to him speak at SXSW in Texas, it's hard not to believe that he'll do it. Herr is an impressive figure behind a podium; tall, imposing and with a well-cut suit that stops just below the knee. Below that, Herr is constructed of a pair of supremely impressive bionic legs.
Herr has a seductive backstory, which begins with prodigious talent as a young mountain climber. He was lucky to survive a traumatic accident on Mount Washington in January 1982 in which he suffered severe frostbite and had both legs amputated below the knee.
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