Hubertus Strughold

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Hubertus Strughold
Space Medicine; Physiology

Hubertus Strughold (June 15, 1898 – September 25, 1986) was a

US Air Force and NASA
.

For his role in pioneering the study of the physical and psychological effects of manned spaceflight he became known as "The Father of Space Medicine".[1] Following his death, Strughold's activities in Germany during World War II came under greater scrutiny in the media and evidence of his involvement in Nazi-era human experimentation greatly damaged his legacy.

Biography

Early life and academic career

Strughold was born in the town of

Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, completing his habilitation
(Dr. med. habil.) in 1927.

After being named an

research fellowship sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation. He would tour the medical laboratories at Harvard, Columbia and the Mayo Clinic and also conducted specialized medical research under Professors Carl J. Wiggers at Western Reserve University and Anton Julius Carlson at the University of Chicago. Strughold returned to Germany in late-1929 and resumed teaching at the Würzburg Physiological Institute, eventually becoming a full professor
in March 1933.

Work for Nazi Germany

In 1935 Strughold joined the faculty of the Institute of Physiology at the

altitude chamber concept of "time of useful consciousness
". Beginning in 1936 Strughold also served as co-editor of the medical journal Luftfahrtmedizin (Aviation Medicine).

Though he was a civilian researcher, the majority of the studies and projects Strughold's institute undertook during this time were commissioned and financed by the

Surgeon-General (Generaloberstabsarzt) Erich Hippke. Strughold was also commissioned as an officer in the German Air Force, eventually rising to the rank of Colonel (Oberst). He was also elected as a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
in 1941.

Human experimentation

In February 1942, Schutzstaffel (SS) physician Hauptsturmführer Sigmund Rascher collaborated with Luftwaffe aviation scientists Hermann Becker-Freyseng, Siegfried Ruff and Hans-Wolfgang Romberg [de] to plan and carry out a number of aeromedical experiments in which inmates from the Dachau concentration camp served as human test subjects. The study took place in the spring and summer of 1942 and initially focused on high-altitude experiments. Camp inmates, mostly Polish and Soviet POWs, were locked inside of a portable pressure chamber built by the Luftwaffe in which the interior air pressure could be altered to simulate the effects of freefalling from a high-altitude without oxygen. Of the 200 test subjects employed in the experiment 80 were killed by the tests outright, with the remainder subsequently being executed by the SS.

From August 1942–May 1943, Rascher and the Luftwaffe physicians also conducted so-called “freezing experiments” using 300 live test subjects. The purpose of these tests was to determine the best way to warm German pilots who had been downed at sea and were suffering from hypothermia. Prisoners were made to remain outdoors naked in freezing temperatures or submerged in tanks of freezing water for hours to simulate the effects of hypothermia before being immersed in hot, sometimes boiling, water to facilitate the warming process, often with fatal results. In October 1942 Rascher delivered a presentation to a medical conference in Nuremberg in which he detailed the findings of his freezing experiments at Dachau to the attendees, Hubertus Strughold and Luftwaffe Surgeon-General Erich Hippke among them.[2]

In early-1944 Strughold was named

salt water or to have it injected directly into their veins. Half the subjects were then administered a medication called Berkatit and all were then made to undergo an invasive liver biopsy without anesthetic, with numerous subjects dying as a result. The extent to which the Dachau experiments may have occurred with either the knowledge or approval
of Strughold in his role as Director of the Institute for Aviation Medicine, remains a source of controversy.

Following the

Nuremberg Doctor's Trial. During these proceedings, Strughold contributed several affidavits
for the defense on behalf of his accused colleagues.

Work for the United States

In October 1945 Strughold returned to academia, becoming director of the Physiological Institute at

US Army Air Force, becoming Chief Scientist of its Aeromedical Center, which was located on the campus of the former Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research. In this capacity Strughold edited German Aviation Medicine in World War II, a book-length summary of the knowledge gained by German aviation researchers during the war. In August 1947 Strughold was brought to the United States, along with many other highly valuable German scientists, as part of Operation Paperclip
.

Along with another former Luftwaffe physician,

human factors" associated with manned spaceflight. Strughold also first described "Mars jars", containers that simulate the atmosphere of Mars, that have now become an essential tool in astrobiological research.[6]

Under Strughold, the School of Aviation Medicine conducted pioneering studies on issues such as atmospheric control, the physical effects of weightlessness and the disruption of normal time cycles.[4][5] In 1951 Strughold revolutionized existing notions concerning spaceflight when he co-authored the influential research paper Where Does Space Begin? in which he proposed that space was present in small gradations that grew as altitude levels increased, rather than existing in remote regions of the atmosphere. Between 1952 and 1954 he would oversee the building of the space cabin simulator, a sealed chamber in which human test subjects were placed for extended periods of time in order to view the potential physical, biological and psychological effects of extra-atmospheric flight.

Strughold obtained

onboard life support systems used by both the Gemini and Apollo astronauts. He also directed the training of the flight surgeons and medical staff of the Apollo program in advance of the planned mission to the Moon. Strughold retired from his position with the US Air Force in 1968 but continued to serve as an honorary consultant
to the AMD.

Later life and controversy

In March 1971, Strughold married Mary Webb Delahite (née Mary Cecilia Houston Webb), who was 16 years his junior and whom he had met in 1959 at a mutual friend's birthday party. Mary had three adult daughters from her first marriage. In 1983 he was awarded the

Texas State Senate declared June 15 "Hubertus Strughold Day" in his honor in 1985. Strughold died at his ranch outside of San Antonio
on 25 September 1986 at the age of 88.

During his work on behalf of the

Justice Department turned up no derogatory information and fully exonerated Strughold, while a second inquiry launched by the Immigration and Naturalization Service in 1974 was later abandoned citing a lack of evidence. In 1983 the Office of Special Investigations
reopened his case but withdrew from the effort following Strughold's death.

After his death, Strughold's alleged connection to the

International Space Hall of Fame in Alamogordo, New Mexico
in May 2006.

Later revelations

Further questions about Strughold's activities during World War II emerged in 2004 following an investigation conducted by the Historical Committee of the German Society of Air and Space Medicine. The inquiry uncovered evidence of

hypoxia
.

While, unlike the Dachau experiments, all the test subjects survived the research process, this revelation led the Society of Air and Space Medicine to abolish a major award bearing Strughold's name. A similar campaign by American scholars prompted the US branch of the Aerospace Medical Association to announce in 2013 that it would retire a similar award, also named in Strughold's honor, which it had been bestowing since 1963. The move was met with opposition from defenders of Strughold, citing his many notable contributions to the American space program and the lack of any formal proof of his direct involvement in war crimes.[7]

Awards and honors

Known as The Father of Space Medicine[8]

Hubertus Strughold Award

The Hubertus Strughold Award was established by the Space Medicine Branch, known today as the Space Medicine Association, a member organization of the Aerospace Medical Association. In 1962 the Award was established in honor of Dr. Hubertus Strughold, also known as "The Father of Space Medicine".[2] The award was presented every year from 1963 through 2012 to a Space Medicine Branch member for outstanding contributions in applications and research in the field of space-related medical research.

Awardees

1960s
  • 1963 Cpt. Ashton Graybiel, Cpt. M.D., USN
  • 1964 Maj. Gen. Otis O. Benson, Jr., USAF, M.C.
  • 1965 Hans-Georg Clamann, M.D.
  • 1966 Hermann J. Schaefer, Ph.D.
  • 1967 Charles Alden Berry, M.D.
  • 1968 David G. Simons, M.D.
  • 1969 Col. Stanley C. White, M.D., USAF, M.C.
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
  • 2000
    Franklin Story Musgrave
    , M.D.
  • 2001 John B. Charles, Ph.D.
  • 2002 Earl Howard Wood, M.D., Ph.D.
  • 2003 Jonathan Clark (for
    STS 107
    crew)
  • 2004 No award
  • 2005 William S. Augerson, M.D.
  • 2006 Jeffrey R. Davis, M.D.
  • 2007 Clarence A. Jernigan, M.D.
  • 2008 Richard Jennings, M.D.
  • 2009 Jim Vanderploeg, M.D.
2010s
  • 2010
    Irene Duhart Long
    , M.D.
  • 2011 Michael Barratt, M.D.
  • 2012 Smith L. Johnston III, M.D.
  • 2013 Award retired by the Space Medicine Association

See also

References

  1. ^ Walker, Andrew (November 21, 2005). "Project Paperclip: Dark side of the Moon". BBC News.
  2. ^
    S2CID 37218252. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 2018-12-03.
  3. doi:10.1097/00005072-198109000-00009
    .
  4. ^
    PMID 13192054
    .
  5. ^
    PMID 13286220
    .
  6. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 2020-07-24.
  7. ^ Lagnado, Lucette (1 December 2012). "A Scientist's Nazi-Era Past Haunts Prestigious Space Prize". Wall Street Journal.
  8. ISBN 9783937394473
    .

Bibliography

External links
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