Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations
Watch Live

Arts & Culture

My Love Affair With The Brain: The Life & Science Of Dr. Marian Diamond

Dr. Marian Diamond and the brain.
Courtesy of Luna Productions
Dr. Marian Diamond and the brain.

Airs Wednesday, April 25, 2018 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV

How can you not fall in love with a woman who carries around a preserved human brain inside a giant flowery hat box? Meet Dr. Marian Diamond, renowned academic and research scientist, and prepare to be smitten.

The film follows this remarkable woman over a 5-year period and introduces the viewer to both her many scientific accomplishments and the warm, funny, and thoroughly charming woman herself, who describes her 60-year career researching the human brain as "pure joy."

My Love Affair With The Brain: Preview

As one of the founders of modern neuroscience, it's no exaggeration to say that Dr. Diamond changed science, and society at large in dramatic ways over the course of her career.

Advertisement

Her groundbreaking work is all the more remarkable because it began during an era when so few women entered science at all.

Shouted at from the back of the conference hall by noteworthy male academics as she presented her research, and disparaged in the scientific journals of a more conservative era, Dr. Diamond simply did the work and followed where her curiosity led her, bringing about a paradigm shift (or two) in the process.

Dr. Marian Diamond (right) and Indigo Prasad, age 4, who is seeing a human brain for the first time.
Courtesy of Luna Productions
Dr. Marian Diamond (right) and Indigo Prasad, age 4, who is seeing a human brain for the first time.

As she points out, in order to get to the answers that matter, you have to start by asking the right questions.

Dr. Marian Diamond portrait, 1983.
By Eric Luse/San Francisco Chronicle
Dr. Marian Diamond portrait, 1983.

Narrated by Mayim Bialik (Amy on BIG BANG THEORY).

Directors are Catherine Ryan and Gary Weimberg at Luna Productions.