Lovelace, William Randolph, II (1907–1965)
Accomplished physician, chief of surgery at the Mayo Clinic, and leading
figure in aerospace medicine during
the early years of the American space program. Lovelace experimented on
problems of high altitude escape and in World War II survived deliberately
parachuting from a B-17 at over 12,000 meters to validate the use of a bail-out
oxygen bottle during a high-altitude descent; the force of his 'chute opening
was so violent that it knocked him unconscious and stripped the gloves from
his hands. In 1958, Lovelace was appointed chairman of NASA's Special Advisory
Committee on Life Science at NASA Headquarters by the Agency's first administrator,
T. Keith Glennan, and went on to play a central role in selecting the Mercury
Seven astronauts.
Related entry
• Mercury Thirteen
Related category
• SPACE
AND AEROSPACE MEDICINE
• PHYSICIANS,
SURGEONS, AND ANATOMISTS
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