Jill Bolte Taylor facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jill Bolte Taylor
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Bolte Taylor at TED, 2008
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| Born | May 4, 1959 Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
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| Alma mater | Indiana University Bloomington (B.A.), Indiana State University (Ph.D.) |
| Known for | My Stroke of Insight |
Jill Bolte Taylor (born May 4, 1959) is an American brain scientist, author, and public speaker. She is known for her work studying the brain and for sharing her personal experience with a stroke.
Dr. Taylor became interested in studying serious brain conditions because her brother had a mental illness. In the early 1990s, she worked at Harvard Medical School. There, she helped map the brain to understand how brain cells talk to each other.
On December 10, 1996, Dr. Taylor had a major stroke. Her journey through the stroke and her eight-year recovery deeply changed her work as a scientist and speaker. This experience is the main topic of her 2006 book, My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey. She gave a very popular speech at a TED Conference that became famous online. After this, her book became a bestseller.
In May 2008, Time Magazine included her on their list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Her book also won an award in 2009 for being a "Books for a Better Life" in the Science category.
Dr. Taylor started a non-profit organization called Jill Bolte Taylor Brains, Inc. She also teaches anatomy, cell biology, and physiology at the Indiana University School of Medicine. She is a national spokesperson for the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center, which helps scientists study the brain.
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Dr. Taylor's Stroke Experience
On December 10, 1996, Jill Bolte Taylor woke up and realized she was having a stroke. Doctors found that the stroke was caused by bleeding from a problem in her brain. This problem was a tangled connection between an artery and a vein in the left side of her brain.
Three weeks later, on December 27, 1996, she had major brain surgery. Doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital removed a blood clot that was pressing on the parts of her brain that control language.
My Stroke of Insight Book
Dr. Taylor's speech at the February 2008 TED Conference about her memories of the stroke became very popular. It was one of the most watched TED talks ever.
After her stroke, Dr. Taylor wrote My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey. The book describes her recovery from the stroke. It also shares the amazing things she learned about how her brain works during that time. The book was published in May 2008 and stayed on the New York Times Bestseller List for 63 weeks. It even reached number 4 on the list.
Dr. Taylor appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in October 2008. Later, in May 2009, Oprah Winfrey spoke at Duke University's graduation. She quoted Dr. Taylor, saying, "You are responsible for the energy that you bring." Oprah encouraged the students to remember this idea in their own lives. Dr. Taylor was also the first guest on Oprah's podcast series called Soul Series.
Ballet Inspired by the Book
A dance company called Cedar Lake Ballet Company created a ballet based on My Stroke of Insight. The ballet was named "Orbo Novo." A dance critic wrote that the ballet explored new ideas about the brain. The dancers even spoke words from Dr. Taylor's book. The dance showed the difference between the logical left side of the brain and the creative, emotional right side. It explored ideas like control versus freedom, and being balanced versus being unstable.
Music Inspired by the Book
On May 3, 2019, which was Dr. Taylor's 60th birthday, the Cecilia Chorus of New York performed a special concert. They presented a new musical piece called Fifty Trillion Molecular Geniuses at Carnegie Hall in New York City. This music used words from My Stroke of Insight and combined them with music by famous composers Johannes Brahms and Edward Elgar.
