to the residents of banstead rd. in montreal west, ronald melzack was the kindly, unassuming neighbour who would delight in teaching children the wonders of astronomy at night.
in the world of medicine and psychology, though, melzack was considered a giant in the field of pain research, co-founding canada’s first pain clinic at the montreal general hospital and making discoveries that are still being cited to this day.
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steven pinker , the renowned psychologist and linguist at harvard university, recalled babysitting melzack’s children when he lived in montreal. in fact, pinker was a neighbour of melzack’s on banstead.
“ron was a great scientist — a pioneer in our understanding of pain — a great humanitarian, dedicated to the relief of human suffering, and an unpretentious, generous mensch,” pinker wrote on the melzack’s condolences page on the paperman & sons website .