Centenary of the Anglo-American High Altitude Expedition to Pikes Peak
Fig. 16.1 Professor Jules Janssen en route to the Grands Mulets (3050 m) on Mont Blanc during a reconnaissance. The difficulties of the route can be seen. From Vivian [24] Only…
T. H. Ravenhill and His Contributions to Mountain Sickness
Fig. 18.1 Thomas Holmes Ravenhill as a captain in Royal Army Medical Corps. This photograph was taken 6 years after his period in the mines. (Courtesy of Marjorie Rosenthal) Table…
The Collaboration of Antoine and Marie-Anne Lavoisier and the First Measurements of Human Oxygen Consumption
Fig. 12.1 Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1747–1794) with his wife Marie-Anne (1759–1836). On the far left is the drawing board used by Marie-Anne. On the far right is a glass jar…
Joseph Barcroft’s Studies of High Altitude Physiology
Fig. 20.1 Joseph Barcroft (1872–1947). Photograph by Bassano Ltd. By permission of the National Portrait Gallery 20.2 Glass Chamber Experiment of 1920 This is one of the most colorful episodes…
Joseph Black, Carbon Dioxide, Latent Heat, and the Beginnings of the Discovery of the Respiratory Gases
Fig. 9.1 Joseph Black (1728–1799). (From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_Black_b1728.jpg) Black’s pioneering work on carbon dioxide assures him a major place in the history of physiology. However he did much more. In fact…
George I. Finch and His Pioneering Use of Oxygen for Climbing at Extreme Altitudes
Fig. 19.1 George I. Finch during the 1922 expedition. He is wearing a jacket of his own design filled with eiderdown. This was ridiculed by A. R. Hinks as a…
Carl Wilhelm Scheele, the Discoverer of Oxygen, and a Very Productive Chemist
Fig. 10.1 Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1742–1786). This is an engraving by Evald Waldemar Hansen. From [9] Another reason for Scheele’s somewhat nebulous reputation is that he was rather self-effacing and…
Joseph Priestley, Oxygen, and the Enlightenment
Fig. 11.1 Joseph Priestley (1733–1804). (From the National Portrait Gallery, by permission) While Priestley’s discoveries in the area of oxygen and a number of other important gases are naturally the…
Denis Jourdanet (1815–1892) and the Early Recognition of the Role of Hypoxia at High Altitude
Fig. 15.1 Denis Jourdanet (1815–1892). By permission of the Wellcome Trust It is therefore remarkable that in spite of Jourdanet’s groundbreaking idea as acknowledged by Bert (Fig. 15.2), very little about…
Humphry Davy, Nitrous Oxide, the Pneumatic Institution, and the Royal Institution
Fig. 14.1 Humphry Davy (1778–1829). (From the National Portrait Gallery, London, by permission) There is an extensive literature on Davy. A readable introduction is Hartley [8]. The biography by Knight…
