Struck by Genius: How a Brain Injury Made Me a Mathematical Marvel (21 page)

A new friendship formed, and in the coming days, Maureen reached out in a white heat to other synesthetes and neuroscientists on my behalf, spreading the word about my case and carving out a path for me to continue my education. She was about to moderate a synesthesia panel at a Toward a Science of Consciousness conference in Stockholm, and she invited me to present my case and my theories. I was happy to learn Duffy would also be there. Maureen contacted another participant of the conference, Berit Brogaard—a philosopher who studied cognitive neuroscience, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of language—to see if she would study me. Dr. Brogaard was a professor of philosophy at the University of Missouri in St. Louis and the director of the Brogaard Lab for Multisensory Research, which was affiliated with a top laboratory in Helsinki, Finland. Brogaard was immediately intrigued. After my week at the conference in Stockholm, I would fly to the lab in Helsinki. Brogaard had scheduled a series of tests for me at the Brain Research Unit, Low Temperature Laboratory (since renamed the O. V. Lounasmaa Laboratory), at Aalto University. A team of scientists would meet us there. Maybe I would finally get a firm diagnosis! Like Maureen, Dr. Brogaard was convinced I was a special case due to the sudden onset of my abilities after my injury. Perhaps it was also because, as I learned later, she herself had pain-to-color synesthesia and thought of pain as a purple mountain. She saw it with her own eyes, so she believed me when I told her what I saw. The synesthetes I was meeting were all receptive to me and didn’t find my impressions the least bit strange.

I was almost back to the feeling I had had when I left for Russia for the first time: I hadn’t been out of my house much at all for months, and suddenly I was planning to go halfway around the world to talk about myself and finally get the proper tests I hadn’t had access to or the money for before. I began to wonder how my back would fare on the long flight to Europe, and I worried I wouldn’t even be able to stand up to exit the aircraft, much less stand on a stage and tell my story. I wanted the opportunity to participate in the conference and take the diagnostic tests so badly that I expressed nothing but enthusiasm, though. I prepared a strap and pillow to use on the plane that would keep my head in place so I wouldn’t hurt myself if I fell asleep. I started to deliberate which drawings to include in the talk and what to say.

I left New York feeling hopeful and validated. Meeting my first synesthetes removed a lot of the doubts I had had about myself. I gained more confidence in my abilities from that meeting and was energized to do even more with my drawings.

Maureen shared with me the written mission statement of the Center for Consciousness Studies—which is based at the University of Arizona in Tucson, though its conferences take place at various sites around the globe—so I would have a better sense of the concept behind the conferences.

I learned that the science of human consciousness remains poorly understood. The dominance of behaviorism in psychology that stamped out interest in the once-popular topic of synesthesia also hurt the study of consciousness, but curiosity about the science behind both topics has risen recently. The University of Arizona has been key in these developments. The first Toward a Science of Consciousness conference, which took place in Tucson in 1994, was a landmark event. The conference has been held each year since then in locations around the world.

It sounded like just the place to tell my story publicly for the first time. Maureen said that mind-body guru Deepak Chopra, physicist and author Leonard Mlodinow, neuropsychiatrist Peter Fenwick, and mathematical physicist Sir Roger Penrose would be present—all giants in the realms of philosophy, neuroscience, mathematics, or quantum physics. I couldn’t believe I was being transported from a futon store in Tacoma into their company.

For my presentation, I would describe my injury and subsequent impressions as well as display and explain my geometric drawings. I decided to try to record this event and began seeking videographers who might want to travel with me. After interviewing several candidates, I settled on the affable Paul Synowiec. His work samples were very impressive, and, just as important, he was a very easygoing person able to get along with me from the start.