Lilienthal's fatal glider crash in 1896: evidence regarding the cause of death.

Otto Lilienthal's pioneering work on gliders helped form the basis for development of powered aircraft. His death following a glider crash in 1896 was officially ascribed to fracture of the cervical spine. However, the clinical details assembled here make it more likely that he died from head trauma with resulting complications, possibly including intracranial hematoma.

Otto von Gericke (1602-1686) and his pioneering vacuum experiments.

The German scholar Otto von Guericke (1602-1686) is regarded as one of the most prominent figures of the scientific revolution in the 17th century. A politician, physicist, engineer, and natural philosopher, von Guericke invented the world's first air pump in 1650. By performing and interpreting some pioneering vacuum experiments, he made important contributions to the basic principles of the physics of fluids and gases. He is most recognized for his so-called Magdeburg experiments, in which two copper hemispheres were placed together, the interior evacuated, and two teams of horses were unable to pull the evacuated hemispheres apart until the air was readmitted. In this way in 1654 he first demonstrated the enormous power of the atmosphere. Through this and other experiments, Otto von Guericke significantly contributed to the understanding of high altitude physiology, and was the first to experiment with an artificial vacuum. However, it took more than three centuries before his pioneering book, Experimenta Nova Magdeburgica de Vacua Spatio (1672), was translated into English in 1994, bringing his genius, scientific ideas, and philosophical understanding to a wider audience.

Theodor Benzinger, German pioneer in high altitude physiology research and altitude protection.

Theodore Benzinger was a pilot-physician who performed pioneering research-often involving self-experimentation-in areas related to flight at high altitude during World War II. Of greatest historical interest to those of us in aerospace medicine is his work on the effects of rapid decompression and related oxygen equipment. Benzinger was born in Stuttgart, Germany, on 28th August 1905. He studied medicine and natural sciences at the universities of Tuebingen, Munich, and Berlin. From 1934 to 1944, Benzinger headed the aeromedical laboratory "EMed" in Rechlin, where he was instrumental in conducting studies related to stratospheric flight, including self-experimentation with rapid decompression up to 19,000 m (62,320 ft). His Rechlin experiments made an important contribution to understanding the physiology and life-support requirements for high-altitude aviation and later work under space-equivalent conditions. Following World War II, Benzinger joined the staff of the U.S. Army Air Force Aeromedical Center in Heidelberg. In 1947 he was recruited by "Operation Paperclip" to work at the U.S. Naval Medical Research Institute (NMRI) in Bethesda, MD, where he worked on various aspects of human physiology. He died as a U.S. citizen in Bethesda, MD, on 26th October 1999.

Hubertus Strughold: the "Father of Space Medicine".

Dr. Hubertus Strughold (1898-1986) is known as the "Father of Space Medicine". He first coined the term "space medicine" in 1948 and was the first and only Professor of Space Medicine at the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine. He was a co-founder of the Space Medicine Branch of the Aerospace Medical Association in 1950. In 1963, the Space Medicine Branch initiated the "Hubertus Strughold Award", which is given each year for the greatest achievement in space medicine.

Albrecht Ludwig Berblinger--inventor of the spring prosthesis and hang-glider (1811).

Albrecht Ludwig Berblinger (1770-1829), known as the "Flying Tailor of Ulm", started with flight experiments in Ulm, Germany, in the early 19th century. He gained experience in downhill gliding with a maneuverable airworthy semi-rigid hang-glider and then attempted to cross the Danube River at Ulm's Eagle's Bastion on the 31st of May 1811. The tricky local winds caused him to crash and he was rescued by fishermen, making him the first survivor of a water immersion accident of a heavier-than-air manned "flight machine". Though he failed in his attempt to be the first man to fly, Berblinger can be regarded as one of the significant aviation pioneers who applied the "heavier than air" principle and paved the way for the more effective glide-flights of Otto Lilienthal (1891) and the Wright Brothers (1902). Less known are Berblinger's significant contributions to the construction of artificial limbs for medical use, as well as the spring-application in aviation. His invention of a special mechanical joint was also used for the juncture of the wings of his "flying machine". Because of his worthwhile contributions to medicine and flight, in 1993 the German Academy of Aviation Medicine named an annual award for young scientists in the field of aerospace medicine in his honor.

Robert Hooke, inventor of the vacuum pump and the first altitude chamber (1671).

Robert Hooke (1635-1703), an assistant researcher to Robert Boyle (1627-1691), invented the first functional British air pump. Applying it to scientific research, Hooke operated the world's first hypobaric chamber in 1671, using it for self-experimentation. He recorded the first physiological observations in an artificial altitude-equivalent environment up to 2400 m. Though Hooke's experiment showed some methodological insufficiencies, his imaginative experimental techniques were remarkable for their time and were indicative of the lively intellectual atmosphere of the Royal Society and the significant contributions of Hooke, who was a member. Two centuries passed before the French physiologist Paul Bert (1830-1886) conducted his famous laboratory-supported investigations of high altitude physiology. Bert played a decisive role in the discovery of the causes of decompression sickness; a contribution Hooke could not make due to the technical deficiencies of the 17th century.

Centrifuge "therapy" for psychiatric patients in Germany in the early 1800s.

In 1818, Dr. Ernst Horn (1774-1848) reported miraculous cures for patients suffering from hysteria through the use of centrifuges at the psychiatric wards of the Charit6-Hospital in Berlin during the previous decade. In his book, "Public Account Concerning My 12 years' Service as Second Physician of the Royal Hospital in Berlin, Including Experiences from Hospitals and Mental Institutions," a full description of the indications and methods for treatment of mental illness, including technical data and construction costs for a rotating bed and rotating chair, is given. The rotating bed was turned by a crankshaft connected by ropes to a capstan. Slowing or stopping was achieved by tensing a rope around a wheel near the ceiling. With a diameter of 13 ft, this therapeutic instrument was capable of producing up to 4 to 5 -Gz in the head region. Several hundred patients and many volunteer subjects, including medical doctors, were reported to have been exposed to the rotating devices, along with some miraculous cures. Apart from the ethical problems associated with this type of torturous treatment, the rotating bed could be described as an ancient centrifuge. With the well-documented observations made on this device, the very first description of G-induced biomedical effects, such as shortness of breath and a feeling of oppression and anxiety, was given: These observations were comparable to those made one century later on human centrifuges and in flight.

Aeromedical evacuation in the "Luftwaffe" from its origins until 1945.

Prior to WWII, Germany had little experience in aeromedical evacuation (AE) of the sick and wounded. The need for a specialized AE organization was recognized, organized, and used extensively on all fronts during WWII. Nearly 2.5 million casualties were transported by regular troop carriers and 11 specialized AE Units, which concentrated on the intensive care air transport of the seriously wounded, especially those with injuries of the brain, eyes, or jaw, thoracic or abdominal wounds, or gun-shot fractures. The AE Units were commanded by medical officers, most of whom were pilot-physicians, who had command jurisdiction over flying and line personnel as well as medical service personnel. The AE Units were equipped with both Junkers Ju-52s, which could carry up to 12 litter patients plus 3 to 5 ambulatory patients each, and with Fieseler Fi -156s (STOL "Stork" for 1 or 2 litter patients), ambulances, as well as the personnel needed for operating and maintaining the vehicles and materiel. The AE Units of the Luftwaffe--the Sanitaetsflugbereitschaften--made an outstanding contribution to military medical care in achieving this significant number of casualties evacuated under the humanitarian symbol of the Red Cross.

Ludolph Brauer, German aeromedical pioneer.

Ludolph Brauer (1865-1951) played an influential role in the history of aviation medicine in Germany. The Treaty of Versailles had put a stop to the development of German aviation and associated medical activities at the end of World War I. Brauer deserves credit for restarting civilian aviation medicine in Germany in the 1920s, paving the way for it to flourish in the 1930s. As Medical Director of the Hamburg-Eppendorf General Hospital, Brauer established the first German Institute of Aviation Medicine (GIAM) in 1927 in affiliation with the Tuberculosis Research Institute with its two large pneumatic chambers. The GIAM was active in altitude research and the selection of pilots, as well as educating medical students in aviation medicine, training Aviation Medical Examiners, and exploring clinical applications of hypobaric and climatic therapy. Brauer was forced to retire in 1934 for political reasons as the GIAM came under the influence of the military; in 1939 it was made part of the Aeromedical Research Institute of the "Reichsluftfahrt" Ministry. Brauer was a co-editor of the journal Luftfahrtmedizin in the 1930s and 1940s. He died in Munich on November 25th, 1951.