A special birthday celebration for a remarkable Montrealer was held Thursday at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI).
Friends, students and colleagues gathered to wish pioneering neurospyschologist Brenda Milner a Happy 101st birthday.
Milner turned 101 on July 15.
The auditorium at the Neuro was filled, as the institute screened a film about Milner’s groundbreaking research into human memory.
Milner finished her PhD at McGill University under psychologist Donald Hebb in 1952, before accepting a tenured position studying epilepsy patients at the MNl.
“Looking back to 1952 … it’s a long, long time I’ve been here,” a grateful Milner told the crowd.
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“I’m really lucky to have fallen on my feet here, to have had the chance to come here in the first place and had such wonderful patients to study, and such great colleagues and wonderful students. So it’s really un gros merci à tout le monde.”
Her contributions changed the understanding of how different brain structures control different learning, memory and speech functions.
WATCH: Therapy dogs soothing patients at the MNI
By combining the disciplines of psychology and neurology in her research, Milner is also credited by many with creating the fields of cognitive neuroscience and clinical neuropsychology.
In speeches before and after the presentation, Milner was lauded as a “rockstar” and the “jewel of the MNI.”
“I’m a little bit overwhelmed,” a modest Milner said.
“I knew this was going to be a celebration, but this was a bit over the top.”
The British native is a Companion of the Order of Canada as well as a member of the Order of Quebec.
While Milner has slowed down in recent years, she is still active at the MNI.
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