He Wanted the Moon: The Madness and Medical Genius of Dr. Perry Baird, and His Daughter's Quest to Know Him

When:
Wednesday, May 17, 2017 12:00p -
1:00p

Where:
Boston Athenæum
10 ½ Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02108

EventScheduled OfflineEventAttendanceMode

Admission:
FREE

Categories:
< 21, Lectures & Conferences, Meetup

Event website:
http://www.bostonathenaeum.org/events/4452/he-wanted-moon

Texas-born and Harvard-educated, Dr. Perry Baird was a rising medical star in the late 1920s and 1930s. Early in his career, ahead of his time, he grew fascinated with identifying the biochemical root of manic depression, just as he began to suffer from it himself. By the time the results of his groundbreaking experiments were published, Dr. Baird had been institutionalized many times, his medical license revoked, and his wife and daughters estranged.


Mimi Baird grew up never fully knowing this story, as her family went silent about the father who had been absent for most of her childhood. Decades later, a string of extraordinary coincidences led to the recovery of a manuscript which Dr. Baird had written during his brutal institutionalization, confinement, and escape. Baird set off on a quest to piece together the memoir and the man. The result of his extraordinary record and her journey to bring his name to light is "He Wanted the Moon," an unforgettable testament to the reaches of the mind and the redeeming power of a determined heart.


Mimi Baird is a graduate of Colby Sawyer College. After working at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, she later moved to Woodstock, Vermont, where she worked as an office manager at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. There she met a surgeon who had once known her father, a serendipitous meeting that prompted her quest to finally understand her father’s life and legacy. Baird has two children and four grandchildren. "He Wanted the Moon" is her first book.


Registration is not required.


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The Athenæum's five galleried floors overlook the peaceful Granary Burying Ground, and, as Gamaliel Bradford wrote in 1931, "it is safe to say that [no library] anywhere has more an atmosphere of its own, that none is more conducive to intellectual aspiration and spiritual peace." The building was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1966.

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05/17/2017 12:00:00 05/17/2017 13:00:00 America/New_York He Wanted the Moon: The Madness and Medical Genius of Dr. Perry Baird, and His Daughter's Quest to Know Him Texas-born and Harvard-educated, Dr. Perry Baird was a rising medical star in the late 1920s and 1930s. Early in his career, ahead of his time, he grew fascinated with identifying the biochemical r... Boston Athenæum, Boston, MA 02108 false MM/DD/YYYY

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