R.I.P. Samuel W. Alderson
From
CNN/AP comes this story:
bq.
Crash test dummies inventor dies
Samuel W. Alderson, the inventor of crash test dummies that are used to make cars, parachutes and other devices safer, has died. He was 90.
bq. Alderson died February 11 at home of complications from myelofibrosis, a bone marrow disorder, his son Jeremy said.
bq. He grew up tinkering in his father's custom sheet-metal shop, worked on various military technology and by 1952 had formed Alderson Research Labs.
bq. The company made anthropomorphic dummies for use by the military and NASA in testing ejection seats and parachutes. The dummies were built to approximate the weight and density of humans and hold data-gathering instruments.
bq. One type of dummy he developed measured radiation doses.
bq. There was little interest in his first automobile test dummy, he once said, until publication of Ralph Nader's consumer protection book "Unsafe at Any Speed" in 1965. The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act was passed a year later.
One of America's unsung geniuses... He did a lot more than just the dummies.
Posted by DaveH at February 19, 2005 12:01 PM