Christian Lembertsen - father of S.C.U.B.A.

In May this year, with the publication article about pioneering diving equipmentby Dr. Christian Lambertsen, we dusted off a piece of diving history for you. Today, we decided to introduce you to the creator and author of the abbreviation S.C.U.B.A.

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Christian Lambertsen, was born on 15 May 1917, in Westfield, New Jersey. He spent the early part of his life there and in 1939, graduated from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He then continued his medical studies at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, graduating in 1943. In 1944, after completing his medical studies in Philadelphia, he joined the U.S. Army Medical Corps, which he continued to serve until 1946.

In 1939, he designed the first Lambertsen Amphibious Respirator Unit – LARU. Unfortunately, his invention failed to capture the imagination of his contemporaries. After the U.S. Navy showed a lack of interest, he demonstrated it in the swimming pool of a Washington hotel for the staff of the Office of Strategic Services. It was a hit. This was demonstrated during secret tests in which the Americans broke into their own base at Guantanamo unnoticed, blew up an unused barracks and disappeared into the waters of the Bay of Pigs.

The OSS not only purchased the invention itself, but also hired Lambertsen to lead the further development of diving equipment. In this way, he became one of the key figures influencing the creation of combat swimmer units, in the US Army, already active during World War II. The OSS later became the foundation of the CIA, whose special units still include diving training in their programmes today.

In the 1950s and 1960s, he concentrated his efforts on the development of diving medicine. He also designed and constructed another breathing apparatus, the Self-contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus – SCUBA, which, like the LARU, offered the possibility of free movement underwater. Among other things, he worked as a professor of experimental therapy at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1972. He was awarded the title of Professor of Medicine at the same university and in 1976. Professor of Veterinary Medicine. He retired in 1985, but remained active in medical circles. He also served as director, The Enviromental Biomedical Stress Data Center at the University of Pennsylvania, which he founded.

Throughout his prolific career, he has been honoured with a huge number of awards from institutions and organisations associated with the development of diving technology (Undersea Medical Society Award ’70, Marine Technology Society – Award of Ocean Science and Engineering ’72, Underwater Society of America Award of Science ’73) medical (Aerospace Medical Association Award ’70) and even space (NASA Commendation ’69).

During his 50-year scientific career, he held many prestigious positions in civil and military institutions, working on the development of technology, diving and hyperbaric medicine. He was the author of many inventions and held several patents applicable to the technological solutions of diving equipment. Thanks to him, divers of the American army ceased to use bulky equipment, heavy metal helmets and all the apparatus providing air from the surface using pumps and hoses.

Christian J. Lambertsen died on 11 February 2011, at the age of 93. Although not as popular as Jaques Cousteau or Hans Hass, his influence on the shape and development of diving as we know it today is invaluable. He was involved in all areas of diving, from the purely technical and constructive to the medical and research on the effects of diving on the human body. He has left behind a huge body of work in the form of inventions, books and scientific papers, and has written SCUBA in gold letters in the history of diving.

Source: wikipedia.org telegraph.co.uk