Mr. Humble and Dr. ButCher: A Monkey's Head, the Pope's Neuroscientist, and the Quest to Transplant the Soul
Brandy Schillace
This book tells about an incredibly ambitious undertaking - attempts for the first time in history to transplant a human head. Medical historian Brandi Squillace writes how the experiments of transplant scientists laid the foundation for technologies that save lives today. In the middle of the last century, the Soviet Union and the United States not only competed in space and military technologies, but also fought for supremacy in the field of transplantology. The work of scientists from both countries gave impetus to the unprecedented development of medical technology. In the center of the story is the amazing fate of the neurosurgeon Robert Joseph White, who performed animal head transplants, was friends with two popes, founded the Vatican commission on bioethics and was nominated for a Nobel Prize for a method of cooling the brain, which still helps to successfully perform the most complex operations. . This is a story about a long journey from science fiction to scientific fact, about the conflict of scientists with animal rights activists and a society that was not ready for discoveries, about our great fears and great hopes.
