Coffee with Brenda Milner | Praise of curiosity

At 105 years old, Brenda Milner is not one to pass up an opportunity to learn something.

I thought I had reached the end of my interview with the woman nicknamed “the great lady of neuroscience”, who was kind enough to welcome me into her home.

So I thank her warmly, putting away my notebook and recorder when I understand that our discussion, in fact, is not over.

Because now that I’ve exhausted my list of questions, it’s his turn to ask me his!

“Who else did you interview?” Who will you interview next? Do scientists respond the same way as artists? Or athletes? What about business people? » she bombards me, her eyes shining with curiosity.

I had overlooked Brenda Milner’s insatiable thirst for knowledge.

When I inform her that I interviewed René Doyon, director of the Institute for Research on Exoplanets, for this same column, she shows such keen interest in the hunt for extraterrestrial life that for a moment I have the impression to tell a fairy tale to a little girl.

No wonder that when Brenda Milner is asked to name the qualities that allowed her to establish herself as one of Quebec’s greatest scientists, she responds with the word that has guided her entire life.

“Curiosity,” she exclaims without any hesitation. It is the most important ! »

Brenda Milner is known for her discoveries about memory. But perhaps his greatest legacy is his working method. By studying brain-damaged patients and making connections between their behaviors and brain structures, she laid the foundation for neuropsychology.

Even if many attribute the motherhood of this discipline to her, she herself refuses to make it her own.

“It’s absurd,” she says. There were several of us, the merit never goes to just one person. »

She similarly dismisses questions about the Nobel Prize. Many scientists have already told me that they think Professor Milner should have received it. She herself told me that she had already gone to Oslo for a sort of selection meeting… and perhaps offended the evaluators by going shopping instead of listening to their speeches¹ !

But she doesn’t want to come back to that.

“I have had enough awards in my life, my work has been very well recognized,” she says.

I met Professor Milner on the occasion of her hundredth birthday. At the time, she still went several times a week to the “Neuro” (the Neurological Institute-Hospital of McGill University), where she worked for decades.

Since the pandemic, she prefers to receive people at her home, in the apartment she has occupied since 1959 at 8^e floor of a building located very close to McGill University.

Behind his armchair unfolds an impressive forest of plants. Further away, we can see Mount Royal through the window. Books and newspapers occupy a large part of the living room.

” I feel good here. The Neuro is a seven-minute walk away, so my friends can come visit me,” she says.

I was curious to know how the centenarian spends her days and keeps her mind occupied.

Every morning, she reads the newspapers (her favorites are The Gazette and the British daily The Guardian, where his father was a music critic). She takes pride in doing crosswords – cursing when there are too many references to television, which she doesn’t watch.

She then listens to CBC radio, then talks to friends on the phone or has them over at her house.

“I like the atmosphere of the news, of the current affairs,” she says. Her great passion remains soccer, she who remains faithful to the club of her hometown, Manchester City (don’t make the mistake, as I did, of confusing it with Manchester United).

A little before her hundredth birthday, she told me she was surprised to find that society expects elders to demonstrate wisdom – a quality she said she did not possess.

At 105, has wisdom finally won her over?

“Oh no,” she said, laughing. I am no wiser. I just hope I’m not less! »

It is true that M^me Milner is not the type to profess great teachings at his venerable age. His speech is always very down to earth. Those around her, for example, told me that she was comfortable broaching the subject of death. But immediately forget the great metaphysical flights.

“Am I thinking about death? Not a lot. Except when I have questions like yours! », she says to me with a feigned tone of reproach, quickly followed by this laugh which regularly punctuates her words.

“I have no religion, I think that death is the end,” she adds. But I’m not looking forward to the end since I’m not in pain. If I was sick, if I had pain, maybe it would be different. »

It is when we talk about science that she opens up the most. In addition to curiosity, she urges scientists to be patient, since discoveries are the result of meticulous work that ultimately pays off in the long run.

“I’ve never been afraid of work,” she says. Even when I was a young girl, I took Saturdays off to watch football. But on Sunday, I worked all day. »

“Follow your curiosity,” she advises young scientists. Follow your passions. And if the institutions you work for don’t allow you to follow your interests, don’t remain a prisoner. »

Does she have any regrets? She thought, before answering in the negative and with a big smile.

Defying public health recommendations, Brenda Milner continues to drink her glass of wine every day. She attributes her longevity to her genetics. And perhaps to the quality of her sleep, she who says she has always slept like a log, “even after a double espresso”.

We left with the promise of seeing each other again in five years. Seeing the form that Brenda Milner is displaying, I am already preparing my questions. And, this time, I will know that I must also respond to his.

1. Read the text “Tireless Nosy”, published on the occasion of the centenary of Brenda Milner

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