In her typically packed classes, she would gently lift the brain from its wrapping and express her awe that such a small, three-pound mass of protoplasm was the most complex structure known to humankind.
For decades she could be seen walking through campus to her anatomy class carrying a flowered hat box containing a preserved human brain. Join the conversation on UC Berkeley’s Facebook page.ĭiamond was not only a pioneer in neuroscience and anatomical and behavioral research, but a beloved teacher and mentor who was dedicated to university and public service. She subsequently demonstrated that the brain can continue to develop at any age, emphasizing the importance of growth and learning throughout life, that male and female brains are structured differently and that stimulating the brain even enhances our immune system. “But I felt good about the work, and I simply replied, ‘I’m sorry, sir, but we have the initial experiment and the replication experiment that shows it can.'”
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“It was an uphill battle for women scientists then - even more than now - and people at scientific conferences are often terribly critical,” she wrote in her 1998 book, Magic Trees of the Mind: How to Nurture your Child’s Intelligence, Creativity, and Healthy Emotions from Birth through Adolescence, co-authored with Janet Hopson. At one meeting, she later recalled, a man stood up after her talk and said loudly, “Young lady, that brain cannot change!” Her results were initially resisted by some neuroscientists. In doing so she shattered the old paradigm of understanding the brain as a static and unchangeable entity that simply degenerated as we age. Diamond showed anatomically, for the first time, what we now call plasticity of the brain. “Her research demonstrated the impact of enrichment on brain development - a simple but powerful new understanding that has literally changed the world, from how we think about ourselves to how we raise our children,” said UC Berkeley colleague George Brooks, a professor of integrative biology. Diamond was awed that a small, three-pound mass of protoplasm like the brain was the most complex structure known to humankind.