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Hubertus Strughold | |
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.jpg) Hubertus Strughold, c. 1953 | |
| Born | June 15, 1898 Westtünnen-im-Hamm,Westphalia, Germany |
| Died | September 25, 1986(1986-09-25) (aged 88) San Antonio,Texas, U.S. |
| Citizenship |
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| Alma mater | University of Munich;University of Göttingen;University of Münster;University of Würzburg |
| Known for | Space Medicine;Nazi Human Experimentation |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Aviation Medicine;Space Medicine;Physiology |
Hubertus Strughold (June 15, 1898 – September 25, 1986) was a German-bornphysiologist andmedical researcher. Beginning in 1935 he served as chief ofaeromedical research forHermann Göring'sMinistry of Aviation and later held the same position with theGerman Luftwaffe throughoutWorld War II. In 1947 he was brought to the United States as part ofOperation Paperclip and went on to serve in a number of high-level scientific posts with theUS Air Force andNASA.
For his role in pioneering the study of the physical and psychological effects of crewed spaceflight he became known as "The Father ofSpace Medicine".[1] Following his death, Strughold's activities inGermany duringWorld War II came under greater scrutiny in the media and evidence of his involvement inNazi-era human experimentation greatly damaged his legacy.
Strughold was born in the town ofWesttünnen-im-Hamm, in thePrussian province of Westphalia, on June 15, 1898. Strughold was the son of theelementary schoolprincipal Ferdinand Strughold (died: 1912) and his wife Anna, née Tillmann (1861–1931). After completing his studies at theGymnasium Hammonensein in 1918, Strughold studiedmedicine and thenatural sciences at theGeorg August University of Göttingen, theLudwig Maximilian University of Munich and theWestfälische Wilhelms University of Münster, where he earned hisdoctorate (Dr. phil.) in 1922. He obtained hismedical degree (Dr. med. et phil.) from theJulius Maximilian University of Würzburg the following year. While continuing his studies at Würzburg, Strughold served as aresearch assistant to the eminentphysiologist Dr.Maximilian von Frey and later to Dr.Paul Hoffmann at theAlbert Ludwig University of Freiburg, completing hishabilitation (Dr. med. habil.) in 1927.
After being named anassociate professor of Physiology at Würzburg, Strughold's attention was increasingly drawn to the emerging science ofaviation medicine and he collaborated with the famedWorld War I pilotRobert Ritter von Greim to study the effects ofhigh-altitude flight onhuman biology. In 1928 Strughold traveled to theUnited States as part of a two yearresearch fellowship sponsored by theRockefeller Foundation. He would tour the medical laboratories atHarvard,Columbia and theMayo Clinic and also conducted specialized medical research under ProfessorsCarl J. Wiggers atWestern Reserve University andAnton Julius Carlson at theUniversity of Chicago. Strughold returned to Germany in late-1929 and resumed teaching at the Würzburg Physiological Institute, eventually becoming afull professor in March 1933.
In 1935 Strughold joined the faculty of the Institute of Physiology at theFriedrich-Wilhelm University of Berlin. Through his association with Robert Ritter von Greim (nowAdolf Hitler's personal pilot), Strughold became acquainted socially withReichsmarschallHermann Göring and other high-ranking members of theNazi regime, though he never formally joined theNazi Party. In April 1935, he was appointed Director of theBerlin-based "Research Institute for Aviation Medicine", a medical sciencethink tank that operated under the auspices of Göring'sReich Ministry of Aviation. Under Strughold's leadership, the Institute grew to become Germany's foremost aeromedical research establishment, pioneering the study of the physical effects of high-altitude andsupersonic speed flight, along with establishing thealtitude chamber concept of "time of useful consciousness". Beginning in 1936 Strughold also served as co-editor of the medical journalLuftfahrtmedizin (Aviation Medicine).
Though he was a civilian researcher, the majority of the studies and projects Strughold's institute undertook during this time were commissioned and financed by theGerman armed forces (principally theLuftwaffe) as part of the Nazi's ongoing policy ofre-armament precedingWorld War II. With the outbreak of war in 1939, the organization was absorbed into the German military and incorporated into the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe where it was rechristened as the "Air Force Institute for Aviation Medicine" and placed under the command ofSurgeon-General (Generaloberstabsarzt)Erich Hippke. Strughold was also commissioned as an officer in the German Air Force, eventually rising to the rank ofColonel (Oberst). He was also elected as a member of theGerman National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in 1941.
In February 1942,Schutzstaffel (SS) physicianHauptsturmführerSigmund Rascher collaborated with Luftwaffe aviation scientistsHermann Becker-Freyseng,Siegfried Ruff andHans-Wolfgang Romberg [de] to plan and carry out a number of aeromedical experiments in which inmates from theDachau concentration camp served ashuman test subjects. The study took place in the spring and summer of 1942 and initially focused onhigh-altitude experiments. Camp inmates, mostlyPolish andSoviet POWs, were locked inside of a portablepressure chamber built by the Luftwaffe in which the interior air pressure could be altered to simulate the effects of freefalling from a high-altitude without oxygen. Of the 200 test subjects employed in the experiment 80 were killed by the tests outright, with the remainder subsequently being executed by the SS.
From August 1942–May 1943, Rascher and the Luftwaffe physicians also conducted so-called "freezing experiments" using 300 live test subjects. The purpose of these tests was to determine the best way to warm German pilots who had been downed at sea and were suffering fromhypothermia. Prisoners were made to remain outdoors naked in freezing temperatures or submerged in tanks of freezing water for hours to simulate the effects of hypothermia before being immersed in hot, sometimesboiling, water to facilitate the warming process, often with fatal results. In October 1942 Rascher delivered a presentation to a medical conference inNuremberg in which he detailed the findings of his freezing experiments at Dachau to the attendees, Hubertus Strughold and Luftwaffe Surgeon-GeneralErich Hippke among them.[2]
In early-1944 Strughold was namedAviation MedicalConsultant to the newly-appointed Chief of the Luftwaffe Medical Service,GeneraloberstOskar Schröder [de]. In July 1944, Schröder initiated a new series of human experiments at Dachau. This study, overseen by Dr.Hans Eppinger and Luftwaffe aviation scientistsWilhelm Beiglboeck andKonrad Schäfer, centered on testing new methods of seawaterdesalination. In the course of the experiment, 90Romani inmates from Dachau were deprived of food and forced to consume large amounts ofsalt water or to have it injected directly into their veins. Half the subjects were then administered a medication called Berkatit and all were then made to undergo an invasiveliver biopsy withoutanesthetic, with numerous subjects dying as a result. The extent to which the Dachau experiments may have occurred with either theknowledge or approval of Strughold in his role as Director of the Institute for Aviation Medicine, remains a source of controversy.
Following theGerman defeat in May 1945, Strughold was placed underhouse arrest by theBritish Army inGöttingen. Strughold would subsequently claim toAllied authorities that, despite his influential position within the Luftwaffe Medical Service and his attendance at the October 1942 medical conference inNuremberg, he had no knowledge of the atrocities that were being committed at Dachau by men who were ostensibly his subordinates. Strughold was never subsequently charged with any wrongdoing by theAllies. However, a 1946 memorandum produced by the staff of theNuremberg Trials listed Strughold as one of thirteen "persons, firms or individuals implicated" in the war crimes committed at Dachau. In addition, several Luftwaffe officials associated with Strughold's Institute for Aviation Medicine, including his formerresearch assistant Dr.Hermann Becker-Freyseng and his ex-commanding officer Oskar Schröder, were convicted ofcrimes against humanity in connection with the Dachau experiments at the 1946–1947Nuremberg Doctor's Trial. During these proceedings, Strughold contributed severalaffidavits for the defense on behalf of his accused colleagues.
In October 1945 Strughold returned to academia, becoming director of the Physiological Institute atHeidelberg University. He also began working on behalf of theUS Army Air Force, becoming Chief Scientist of its Aeromedical Center, which was located on the campus of the formerKaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research. In this capacity Strughold editedGerman Aviation Medicine in World War II, a book-length summary of the knowledge gained by German aviation researchers during the war. In August 1947 Strughold was brought to theUnited States, along with many other highly valuable German scientists, as part ofOperation Paperclip.
Along with another former Luftwaffe physician,Richard Lindenberg, Strughold was assigned to theUS Air Force base atRandolph Field nearSan Antonio, Texas.[3] It was while at Randolph Field that Strughold began conducting some of the first research into the potential medical challenges posed byspace travel, in conjunction with fellow "Paperclip Scientist" Dr.Heinz Haber.[4][5] Strughold coined the terms "space medicine" and "astrobiology" to describe this area of study in 1948. The following year he was appointed as the first and only Professor of Space Medicine at theUS Air Force's newly established School of Aviation Medicine (SAM) by the institution's commandant, ColonelHarry G. Armstrong. SAM would become one of the first medical establishments dedicated to conducting research on "astrobiology" and the so-called "human factors" associated withcrewed spaceflight. Strughold also first described "Mars jars", containers that simulate the atmosphere of Mars, that have now become an essential tool in astrobiological research.[6]
Under Strughold, the School of Aviation Medicine conducted pioneering studies on issues such asatmospheric control, the physical effects ofweightlessness and the disruption ofnormal time cycles.[4][5] In 1951 Strughold revolutionized existing notions concerning spaceflight when he co-authored the influential research paperWhere Does Space Begin? in which he proposed that space was present in small gradations that grew as altitude levels increased, rather than existing in remote regions of the atmosphere. Between 1952 and 1954 he would oversee the building of thespace cabin simulator, a sealed chamber in which human test subjects were placed for extended periods of time in order to view the potential physical, biological and psychological effects of extra-atmospheric flight.
Strughold obtainedUS citizenship in July 1956 and the following year was named Adviser for Research to the newly-established Aerospace Medical Center atBrooks Air Force Base and would later take over as Chairman of the Center's Advanced Studies Group in 1960. He was next appointed Chief Scientist of the Aerospace Medical Division (AMD) ofUS Air Force Systems Command in February 1962. In this capacity, Strughold worked closely with theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) where he was responsible for supervising all aerospace medicine research being conducted by theUS Air Force in support of thenational space program. During his collaboration with NASA, Strughold played a central role in designing thepressure suit andonboard life support systems used by both theGemini andApollo astronauts. He also directed the training of theflight surgeons and medical staff of the Apollo program in advance of the plannedmission to the Moon. Strughold retired from his position with the US Air Force in 1968 but continued to serve as an honoraryconsultant to the AMD.
In March 1971, Strughold married Mary Webb Delahite (née Mary Cecilia Houston Webb), who was 16 years his junior and whom he had met in 1959 at a mutual friend's birthday party. Mary had three adult daughters from her first marriage. In 1983 he was awarded theFederal Order of Merit by the government ofWest Germany and theTexas State Senate declared June 15 "Hubertus Strughold Day" in his honor in 1985. Strughold died at his ranch outside ofSan Antonio on September 25, 1986, at the age of 88.
During his work on behalf of theUS Air Force andNASA, Strughold was the subject of three separate US government investigations into his suspected involvement inwar crimes committed under theNazis. A 1958 investigation by theJustice Department turned up no derogatory information and fully exonerated Strughold, while a second inquiry launched by theImmigration and Naturalization Service in 1974 was later abandoned citing a lack of evidence. In 1983 theOffice of Special Investigations reopened his case but withdrew from the effort following Strughold's death.
After his death, Strughold's alleged connection to theDachau experiments became more widely known following the release ofUS Army Intelligence documents from 1945 that listed him among those being sought aswar criminals by US authorities. These revelations did significant damage to Strughold's reputation and resulted in the revocation of various honors that had been bestowed upon him over the course of his career. In 1993, at the request of theWorld Jewish Congress, his portrait was removed from a mural of prominent physicians displayed atOhio State University. Following similar protests by theAnti-Defamation League (ADL), the Air Force decided in 1995 to rename the Hubertus Strughold Aeromedical Library atBrooks Air Force Base, which had been named in Strughold's honor in 1977. His portrait, however, still hangs there. Further action by the ADL also led to Strughold's removal from theInternational Space Hall of Fame inAlamogordo, New Mexico in May 2006.
Further questions about Strughold's activities during World War II emerged in 2004 following an investigation conducted by the Historical Committee of the German Society of Air and Space Medicine. The inquiry uncovered evidence ofoxygen deprivation experiments carried out by Strughold's Institute for Aviation Medicine in 1943. According to these findings sixepileptic children, between the ages of 11 and 13, were taken from the Nazis'Brandenburg Euthanasia Centre to Strughold's Berlin laboratory where they were placed invacuum chambers to induceepileptic seizures in an effort to simulate the effects of high-altitude sicknesses, such ashypoxia.
While, unlike the Dachau experiments, all the test subjects survived the research process, this revelation led the Society of Air and Space Medicine to abolish a major award bearing Strughold's name. A similar campaign by American scholars prompted the US branch of the Aerospace Medical Association to announce in 2013 that it would retire a similar award, also named in Strughold's honor, which it had been bestowing since 1963. The move was met with opposition from defenders of Strughold, citing his many notable contributions to theAmerican space program and the lack of any formal proof of his direct involvement in war crimes.[7]
Known asThe Father of Space Medicine[8]
The Hubertus Strughold Award was established by the Space Medicine Branch, known today as the Space Medicine Association, a member organization of theAerospace Medical Association. In 1962 the Award was established in honor of Dr. Hubertus Strughold, also known as "The Father of Space Medicine".[2] The award was presented every year from 1963 through 2012 to a Space Medicine Branch member for outstanding contributions in applications and research in the field of space-related medical research.
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