Temple Grandin is an American industrial designer, science educator, and autism spokesperson. She invented the "hug box" device to calm those on the autism spectrum.
Background
Temple Grandin was born on August 29, 1947 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Daughter of Richard McCurdy and Anna Eustacia Purves (now Cutler). Grandin's parents divorced when she was 15, and her mother eventually went on to marry Ben Cutler, a renowned New York saxophonist, in 1965. Her father Richard died in California in 1993. Grandin has three siblings: two sisters and a brother, with Grandin being the oldest. Grandin has described one of her sisters as being dyslexic. Her younger sister is an artist, her other sister is a sculptor, and her brother is a banker.
Education
Grandin attended Beaver Country Day School from the 7th to 9th grade. She was expelled at the age of 14 for throwing a book at a schoolmate who had taunted her. After her expulsion from Beaver Country Day School, Grandin's mother placed her in Mountain Country School (now known as Hampshire Country School). She graduated in 1966 from Mountain Country School.
Grandin received her Bachelor in Psychology from Franklin Pierce College in 1970. In 1975 she received her Master of Science in Animal Science from Arizona State University. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Animal Science from the University of Illinois, Urbana in 1989.
Career
Grandin worked as Livestock editor of Arizona Farmer Ranchman, Phoenix, from 1973 until 1978. She was an equipment designer at Corral Industries between 1974 and 1975. Thereafter she was an independent consultant at Grandin Livestock Systems in Urbana from 1975 until 1990 and in Fort Collins, Colorado since 1990.
Grandin served as a lecturer and professor of animal science department at Colorado State University, since 1990. She has been chairman of handing committee at Livestock Conservation Institute, Madison, Wisconsin, since 1976. She was also a surveyor at the United States Department of Agriculture.
Grandin is the author some books on autism and of over 60 peer reviewed scientific papers on a variety of other animal behavior subjects.
Achievements
Grandin' s achievements include patents in field, design of stockyards and humane restraint equipment for major meat packing companies in the United States, Canada and Australia, development of objective scoring system used for monitoring animal welfare in slaughter plants.
An Home Box Office movie "Temple Grandin" was made about her life in 2010.
During her career, Grandin received a lot of awards, including Meritorious service award (1986), Trammel Crow Award (1989), Animal Management Award (1995), and others.
In 2010 Grandin was named in the Time 100 list of the one hundred most influential people in the world in the "Heroes" category. In 2011 she received a Double Helix Medal. She has received honorary degrees from many universities. In 2015 she was named an Honorary Fellow of the Society for Technical Communication. Grandin received a Meritorious Achievement Award from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) in 2015. In 2016 Grandin was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2017 Grandin was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
Quotations:
"The part of other people that has emotional relationships is not part of me".
Membership
Grandin has been a member of Autism Society of America (member of board of directors, 1988-1992), American Society of Animal Science, American Society of Agricultural Consultants (member of board of directors, 1981-1983), American Society of Agricultural Engineers, American Meat Institute (supplier member), American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists.
