Christian James Lambertsen | |
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![]() Dr. Lambertsen, U.S. Army in 1942 | |
Born | Westfield, New Jersey, U.S. | May 15, 1917
Died | February 11, 2011 | (aged 93)
Nationality | ![]() |
Alma mater | - Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey – B.S. (1939) - University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – M.D. (1943) |
Known for | Research in tolerance and toxicity of respiratory gasses and development of diving procedures and equipment. |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Aerospace medicine, Undersea medicine, Diving medicine, Hyperbaric medicine, Physiology, and Engineering. |
Institutions | Institute for Environmental Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
Doctoral students | M.L Gernhardt |
Notes | |
Notes above from the Dr. Lambertsen's CV dated May 2008. |
Christian James Lambertsen (May 15, 1917 – February 11, 2011) 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. Lambertsen designed a series of rebreathers in 1940 (patent filing date: 16 Dec 1940) and in 1944 (patent issue date: 2 May 1944)[1] and first called his invention breathing apparatus. Later, after the war, he called it Laru (acronym for Lambertsen Amphibious Respiratory Unit) and finally, in 1952, he changed his invention's name again to SCUBA (Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus).[2] Although diving regulator technology was invented by Émile Gagnan and Jacques-Yves Cousteau in 1943 and was unrelated to rebreathers, the current use of the word SCUBA is largely attributed to the Gagnan-Cousteau invention. The US Navy considers Lambertsen to be "the father of the Frogmen".[3][4]
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