Jill Bolte Taylor American neuroanatomist, writer and speaker Date of Birth: 15.05.1959 Country: USA

1. Biography of Jill Bolte Taylor
2. TED Talk and Internet Sensation
3. Work and Organizations
4. Achievements and Recognition
5. Personal Experience and Recovery

Biography of Jill Bolte Taylor

Jill Bolte Taylor is an American neuroanatomist, writer, and speaker. She was born on May 15, 1959, in Louisville, Kentucky, and currently resides in Bloomington, Indiana. After completing her education at Indiana University, where she obtained a bachelor's degree and a master's degree, Taylor pursued further studies in psychiatry and neurology at Harvard Medical School. During her time at Harvard, she worked in Dr. Frances Benes' laboratory on the psychiatry department. Her pathological studies of the human brain focused on schizophrenia and other severe mental disorders.

TED Talk and Internet Sensation

In February 2008, Taylor's presentation at the TED conference became an internet sensation. TED invites experts from various fields of science and culture to share their experiences if they have something remarkable to offer the world. In her brief twenty-minute speech, Taylor shared her memories of her stroke, which resonated with viewers worldwide. Her TED Talk became the second most-viewed video on the TED website.

Work and Organizations

Driven by personal reasons, Taylor founded the non-profit organization 'Jill Bolte Taylor Brains, Inc.' She collaborates with the Indiana University School of Medicine and serves as a national spokesperson for the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center, which houses one of the largest collections of brain tissue samples for research purposes. Taylor's personal experience of surviving a stroke in 1996 at the age of 37, followed by an eight-year rehabilitation, gave a new perspective to her work as a scientist and speaker.

Achievements and Recognition

In recognition of her contributions, Time Magazine included Jill Bolte Taylor in their list of the '100 Most Influential People in the World' in May 2008. Her book, 'My Stroke of Insight,' won the 'Books for a Better Life' award in the science category from the New York chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in February 2009. The book, which delves into Taylor's experience of her stroke and its impact on her life and work, spent 17 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, reaching the 4th position.

Personal Experience and Recovery

On December 10, 1996, Jill Bolte Taylor woke up to excruciating pain but decided to start her day as usual. She realized something was seriously wrong when her right arm became paralyzed while she was in the shower. Unable to speak, understand language, or recognize letters or numbers, Taylor understood she was experiencing a stroke. Despite this, she considered herself lucky, as few brain researchers have the opportunity to observe the development of a similar condition in their own brains.

With great effort, Taylor managed to call her colleagues, who recognized her slurred speech as a sign of trouble and called for emergency assistance. In the ambulance, she mentally said her goodbyes, and when she regained consciousness later that day, she was shocked to still be alive. The stroke had been caused by bleeding in her left hemisphere, resulting from an undiagnosed arteriovenous malformation, which had remained dormant for 37 years.

Following an operation at Massachusetts General Hospital on December 27, 1996, doctors successfully removed a blood clot the size of a golf ball that was compressing Taylor's language center and paralyzing her left hemisphere. From that moment, she began her journey of recovery, relearning how to walk, speak, dress, count, and write. It took her eight long years to fully regain her abilities, but Taylor eventually returned to her scientific work.

Throughout her recovery, Taylor received invaluable support from her mother, who took on the responsibility of caring for her daughter despite her advanced age. The result of Taylor's stroke was her book, which has been translated into thirty languages, including Russian. Titled 'My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey,' it spent 17 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, reaching the 4th position. Her story also inspired the ballet performance 'Orbo Novo' by the Cedar Lake Ballet Company.