Former student remembers Michael Persinger for his kindness

A professor who worked alongside the late Michael Persinger at Laurentian University says his legacy is his kindness.

Laurentian University announced on Wednesday the death of the professor.

Persinger was internationally known for his advanced research on the human brain. He had been a neuroscience professor at the university since 1971.

One of his most known research projects was "The God Helmet," in which a person's temporal lobes were stimulated to replicate the feeling of having another presence in the room.

Blake Dotta first met Persinger 14 years ago. He says he signed up for Persinger's class after seeing him talk on The Discovery Channel.

He says he found Persinger to be one of the kindest people he'd ever met.

Dotta says he took him in as an undergrad and helped him achieve his potential as a scientist.

"It started off as student and professor and then went basically to become a mentor and supervisor and then a colleague and to this point, basically, close, close friends," he said.

"There's a thing really about him that I want people to know is the people he took in and the people he produced out of this lab are the kindest people that I've ever met and they're incredibly successful and to me that should be one of his legacies."

Dotta says he was the kind of teacher who could take complex ideas and explain them in a way that anyone could understand.

Persinger was 73 years old.