Summary

Creator:

Lambertsen, Christian James and Lambertsen, Christian James

Abstract:

Christian James (C. J.) Lambertsen (1917-2011) worked as a professor of pharmacology, director of the Institute for Environmental Medicine, and the founding director of the Environmental Biomedical Stress Data Center in 1985 at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine. He designed the Lambertsen Amphibious Respiratory Unit (LARU), which was the first widely used, closed-circuit Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA) in the United States. Types of materials include correspondence, reports, photographs, audio material, slides, lab books, lab data, experimental measures and procedures, diagrams, graphs, articles, manuscript drafts, grant proposals, newspaper clippings, and notes. Primary subjects include decompression, oxygenation, diving, decompression sickness, diving physiology, and underwater breathing apparatus. Materials range in date from 1930 to 2004.

Extent:

262.50 Linear Feet (167 cartons, 21 flat boxes, 3 card boxes) and 1.89 MB

Language:

English

Collection ID:

UHMS.0007

Background

Scope and Content:

This collection contains experiment documentation, research notes, scholarly writing, technical reports, publications, correspondence, and artifacts belonging to Christian James Lambertsen, primarily created during his tenure at the University of Pennsylvania. Primary subjects include decompression, oxygenation, diving, decompression sickness, diving physiology, and underwater breathing apparatus. Documentation from the University of Pennsylvania's Environmental Biomedical Stress Data Center and the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society are also included. Numerous photographs, slides, films, and audio recordings are part of the collection, many of which need to be reformatted in order to be used. Materials range in date from 1930 to 2004, the bulk of the papers documenting Lambertsen's experiments are between 1970 and 1995.

Biographical / Historical:

Christian James (C. J.) Lambertsen was born in Westfield, New Jersey on May 15, 1917. He received a B.S. degree in Biology from Rutgers University in 1939, an M.D. in Medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1943, and an honorary D.Sc. in Medicine from Northwestern University in 1977. His research interests included undersea, atmospheric, aerospace, and industrial environmental physiology, as well as human environmental toxicology and the extremes of human physiologic performance.In 1940, Lambertsen designed the Lambertsen Amphibious Respiratory Unit (LARU), which was the first widely used, closed-circuit Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA) in the United States. The LARU was adopted by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), and used in the latter stages of WWII.Lambertsen joined the staff of the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine in 1946, where he remained for the rest of his life. Primarily a professor of pharmacology, he became the director of the university's Institute for Environmental Medicine in 1968, and the founding director of the Environmental Biomedical Stress Data Center in 1985.Lambertsen collaborated with numerous government organizations, including the National Research Council, the U.S. Army Chemical Corps, the U.S. Air Force, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the U.S. Navy Medical Advisory Panel. He received numerous awards and honors for his work. Lambertsen died on February 11, 2011 in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

Acquisition Information:

Accession A2012.012 (gift by the University of Pennsylvania, January 2012)

Processing information:

Processed by Amber Covington and Rosemary K. J. Davis: 2012; encoded by Rosemary K. J. Davis and Dawne Howard Lucas: 2012; updated by Kahlee Leingang under the supervision of Lucy Waldrop: May 2018

Arrangement:

Organized into the following series: Predictive Studies, 1961-2004; Decompression, 1930-2001; Oxygen Toxicity, 1940-2003; Isobaric Counterdiffusion, 1973-2001; Publications, 1944-2004; Breathing Apparatus. 1972-1987; Performance Measurement System (PMS), 1987-1990; Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, 1984-1985; Space and Aviation Medicine, 1991-2002.

Physical Location:

For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Duke University Medical Center Archives.

Rules or Conventions:

DACS

Subjects

Click on terms below to find related finding aids on this site. For other related materials in the Duke University Libraries, search for these terms in the Catalog.

Subjects:

Respiration.
Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society
Animal Experimentation
Naval Medical Research Institute (U. S.)
Hyperbaric Oxygenation.
Scuba apparatus
Atmospheric Pressure
Diving--physiology.
Diving.
Decompression Sickness.
Decompression.