Christian J. Lambertsen
| Christian James Lambertsen | |
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Dr. Lambertsen, U.S. Army in 1942
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| Born |
May 15, 1917 Westfield, New Jersey |
| Died | February 11, 2011 (aged 93) Newtown Square, Pennsylvania |
| Residence | Newtown Square, Pennsylvania |
| Nationality |
 United States of America
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| Fields | Aerospace medicine, Undersea medicine, Diving medicine, Hyperbaric medicine, Physiology, and Engineering. |
| Institutions | Institute for Environmental Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ...(more)... |
| Alma mater | - Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey – B.S. (1939) - University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – M.D. (1943) |
| Doctoral students | J.M. Clark, J.N. Feld, R.E. Peterson, J.M. Collins, S. Kronheim, M.L Gernhardt, L.H. Fenton |
| Known for | Research in tolerance and toxicity of respiratory gasses and development of diving procedures and equipment. |
| Notes | |
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Notes above from the Dr. Lambertsen's CV dated May 2008.
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Christian James Lambertsen (May 15, 1917 – February 11, 2011) was an American environmental medicine and diving medicine specialist who was principally responsible for developing the United States Navy frogmen's rebreathers in the early 1940s for underwater warfare. Lambertsen designed a series of rebreathers in 1940 (patent filing date: 16 Dec 1940) and in 1944 (patent issue date: 2 May 1944) and first called his invention breathing apparatus. Later, after the war, he called it Laru (portmanteau for Lambertsen Amphibious Respiratory Unit) and finally, in 1952, he changed his invention's name again to SCUBA (Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus). Although diving regulator technology was invented by Émile Gagnan and Jacques-Yves Cousteau in 1943 and wasn't originally related to rebreathers, the current use of the word SCUBA is largely attributed to Gagnan's and Cousteau's invention. The US Navy considers Lambertsen to be "the father of the Frogmen".
Lambertsen was born in Westfield, New Jersey and attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, graduating in 1939 with a bachelor of science degree. He graduated from medical school at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1943.
Lambertsen was awarded Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from Northwestern University in 1977.
Major Lambertsen served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps from 1944 to 1946. He invented the first Self-contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA) and demonstrated it to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) (after already being rejected by the U.S. Navy) in a pool at a hotel in Washington D.C. OSS not only bought into the concept, they hired Major Labertsen to lead the program and build-up the dive element of their maritime unit. He was vital in establishing the first cadres of U.S. military operational combat swimmers during late World War II. The OSS was also the predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the maritime element still exists inside their Special Activities Division.
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