Christian James Lambertsen was an American environmental medicine and diving medicine specialist who was principally responsible for developing the United States Navy frogmen's rebreathers in the early 1940s for underwater warfare died from renal failure he was , 93.. It was the first device to be called SCUBA. The US Navy considers him to be "the father of the Frogmen".[1][2](May 15, 1917 – February 11, 2011)
Education
Lambertsen was born in Westfield, New Jersey and attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, graduating in 1939 with a bachelor of science degree.[3] He graduated from medical school at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1943.
Lambertsen was awarded Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from Northwestern University in 1977.Army career
Major Lambertsen served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps from 1944 to 1946. He invented the first Self-contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA) and demonstrated it to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) (after already being rejected by the U.S. Navy) in a pool at a hotel in Washington D.C. [4] OSS not only bought into the concept, they hired Major Labertsen to lead the program and build-up the dive element of their maritime unit. [5] He was vital in establishing the first cadres of U.S. military operational combat swimmers during late World War II. The OSS was also the predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the maritime element still exists inside their Special Activities Division. [6]His responsibilities included training and developing methods of combining self-contained diving and swimmer delivery including the Lambertsen Amphibious Respiratory Unit for the OSS "Operational Swimmer Group".[1][2] Following World War II, he trained U.S. forces in methods for submerged operations, including composite fleet submarine / operational swimmers activity.
Civilian career
From 1946 to 1953 Lambertsen served as an instructor to Professor of Pharmacology with the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine though he did spend a year as a Visiting Research Associate Professor from 1951 to 1952 for the Department of Physiology at University College London, England. Lambertsen spent the 1950s concentrating on national research needs in undersea medicine (see National Service Activities below). He again took an appointment as Professor of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1962. He was also named Professor of Medicine in 1972 and Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine in 1976. Each of these appointments were held until 1987. In 1985, he became Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Environmental Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He maintains this position to this day.Lambertsen was the founder and director of The Environmental Biomedical Stress Data Center[7] at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The University of Pennsylvania's annual Christian J. Lambertsen Honorary Lecture is named for him. On May 31, 2007 the guest speaker was Professor Marc Feldmann, head of Imperial College's Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology who is recognised for his discovery of anti-TNF treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, which has led to a new therapy used by more than a million patients. Dr. Lambertsen was in attendance.
Contributions to environmental medicine
Predictive Studies Series
Dr. Lambertsen's "Predictive Studies Series", spanning from 1969 with TEKTITE I to 1997, researched many aspects of humans in extreme environments.[8]Awards
University and National Civilian Awards and Honors
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Military Service and Related Awards
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National Service Activities
- 1953–1960, 1962–1971 Committee on Naval Medical Research, National Research Council
- 1953–1972 Committee on Undersea Warfare, National Research Council
- 1953–1956 Chairman, Panel on Underwater Swimmers, Committee on Undersea Warfare, National Research Council
- 1954–1960 Chairman, Panel on Shipboard and Submarine Medicine, Committee on Naval Medicine Research, National Research Council
- 1954–1961 Advisory Panel on Medical Sciences, Office of Assistant Secretary of Defense, R and E
- 1955–1959 Consultant, U.S. Army Chemical Corps
- 1959–1961 Consultant, Scientific Advisory Board, U.S. Air Force
- 1960–1962 Chairman, Committee on Man-in-Space, Space Science Board, National Academy of Sciences
- 1960–1962 Member, Space Science Board, National Academy of Sciences
- 1962–1980 Consultant, Space Science Board, National Academy of Sciences
- 1967–1970 Member, President's Space Panel, PSAC
- 1968–1977 Oceanographic Advisory Committee, Office of Secretary of the Navy
- 1972 Consultant to the Diving Physiology and Technology Panel, U.S.-Japan Cooperative Program in Natural Resources, U.S. Department of the Interior
- 1972–1977 Biomedical Sciences Advisor, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Dept. of Commerce
- 1973–1977 Member, The Marine Board, National Academy of Engineering
- 1973 Member, Smithsonian Advisory Board
- 1983 Chairman, Environmental Sciences Review Committee, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
- 1983–1986 National Undersea Research Center Advisory Board, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- 1983–1985 Space Medicine Advisory Panel, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- 1984–1986 Lunar Base Planning Group, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- 1989–1991 NASA Radiation and Environmental Health Working Group
- 1991–1993 NASA Life Sciences Division Environmental Biomedical Sciences Working Group
- 1992 NASA Life Sciences. Science and Technical Requirements Document for Space Station Freedom
- 1993 NASA JSC Medical Advisory Board, Hubble Telescope Repair EVA
- 1995 NASA JSC “In-Suit” Doppler Panel
- 1998 Chairman, NASA Advisory Panel, Committee on ISS Decompression Risk Definition & Contigency Plan
- 1998–1999 Chairman, NASA Life Sciences Decompression Research Peer Reviews
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