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(5.16.05 issue) That's no lady, that's my mummy

Filed under: Pick of the Issue

Cheesy as Lindsay Robertson says it is to mention your own traffic, it's worth noting that tons of people have been googling profilee and "mummy doctor" Art Aufderheide since the piece (by Kevin Krajick) appeared on May 16. Predictably and happily, one of his local papers followed up:

Aufderheide has answered lots of questions lately, beginning with an article—"The Mummy Doctor"—that appeared in the May 16 issue of the New Yorker magazine.

"I turned them down twice," Aufderheide said. "I'm a shy person."

Aufderheide said he has learned the hard way, as many scientists sooner or later do, that the popular press often gets complicated science wrong.

But what about the thrill of seeing himself profiled in one of the nation's most prestigious magazines?

"I'm a few months shy of 83," Aufderheide said. "I'm not trying to expand my resume."

The New Yorker article is a splendid outline of Aufderheide's life work, but omits an important fact: He's a really nice guy.

"He's Minnesota good," said Lorentz Wittmers Jr., an associate professor in the Department of Physiology at UMD, who has collaborated with Aufderheide.
...
Aufderheide said he's pulled back from field work recently, but has no plans to retire from teaching.

"Being around young people is such a stimulus," Aufderheide said. "They're so excited about life."

I have to confess with paleolithic egg on my face that I haven't yet finished the New Yorker piece—though I was liking it—since I have my mother's keen interest in things anthropological and archaeological but always not her stomach for them, at least during lunchtime. I intend to try the dessicated body parts again, with Emetrol.

Mummy Doctor' pioneered study of ancient remains [St. Paul Pioneer Press]

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