The American scientist and doctor who invented an underwater breathing system used by the military in the World War II and later coined the “scuba” acronym has died.
Christian J. Lambertsen was 93 when he died over the weekend at his home in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia.
He began working on his device even before he enrolled as a medical student at the University of Pennsylvania.
During the World War II, he worked with the US Army’s office of strategic services to establish special underwater forces deployed in Burma.
He later worked with the US Navy to train surface frogmen to become divers.
He established the university’s Institute for Environmental Medicine, which has stud-ied survival in hostile environments.
Dr Lambertsen is survived by sons Christian, David, Richard, Bradley and six grandchildren.
Dr Lambertsen was born on May 15 1917 and earned a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University. He began working on his breathing apparatus, using parts of anaesthesia machines, even before he enrolled as a medical student at the University of Pennsylvania, according to medical school dean Arthur Rubenstein, who called him “one of our institution’s most honoured professors”.
Dr Lambertsen’s background as a doctor, inventor and diver made him “the right man in the right place at the right time” for the development of an early version of the device later known as scuba or “self-contained underwater breathing apparatus”.
In 1941, Dr Lambertsen worked with the US Army’s office of strategic services to establish special underwater forces deployed in Burma, and later worked with the US Navy to train surface frogmen to become divers.
During this service, Dr Lambertsen made the first exit from and re-entry into a submerged submarine, marking the beginning of modern underwater demolition teams.
Back at the University of Pennsylvania, he converted an abandoned altitude chamber into a laboratory for the study of undersea and aerospace environmental physiology.
In 1968, he established the Institute for Environmental Medicine, which has studied oxygen toxicity, diving-related diseases and the effects of hypoxic response in humans, exploring how humans can live in hostile environments from the oceans to space and in extreme temperatures.
Dr Lambertsen retired as institute director in 1987 but continued his research as a professor emeritus, where he studied how high-pressure oxygen therapy can help in treatment of diseases.
In 1992, he patented inergen, a fire-suppression product now used in commercial buildings, developed initially to extinguish fires in submarines and spacecraft.
Among his many honours are the highest civilian awards from the US Department of Defence and Coast Guard.
In 2000, US Navy Seals proclaimed him “the father of US combat swimming”.