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Samuel W. AldersonAmerican inventor
Date of Birth: 21.10.1914
Country:  USA |
Content:
- Samuel Alderson: The Inventor of the Crash Test Dummy
- Alderson Research Laboratories
- The Crash Test Dummy
- Work with the US Military
- Medical Contributions
- Later Career
- Death and Legacy
Samuel Alderson: The Inventor of the Crash Test Dummy
Early Life and EducationSamuel Alderson was born in Cleveland, Ohio on October 21, 1914, but grew up in Southern California, where his Romanian immigrant father owned a sign and traffic control manufacturing business. Alderson graduated from high school at age 15 and then attended Reed College, Caltech, Columbia University, and UC Berkeley sporadically, interrupting his studies to help his father in the sign shop, where he gained experience with sheet metal work.
At UC Berkeley, Alderson studied under physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and nuclear physicist Ernest O. Lawrence. However, he never completed his doctoral dissertation.
Alderson Research Laboratories
In 1952, Alderson founded Alderson Research Laboratories. He quickly secured a contract to develop an anthropomorphic dummy for testing aircraft ejection seats. Around the same time, the automotive industry faced pressure to produce safer vehicles without using human volunteers or cadavers in testing.
The Crash Test Dummy
In 1966, the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, along with Ralph Nader's book "Unsafe at Any Speed," heavily influenced the industry. Development of an anatomically accurate test dummy became paramount. Alderson created the "V.I.P.," a dummy designed to replicate the weight and impact response of an average male.
Alderson continued to refine his designs, culminating in the Hybrid family of dummies, which became the historical and accepted standard in crash testing.
Work with the US Military
Alderson also made significant contributions to the US military. During World War II, he helped develop an optical coating to enhance submarine periscopes, as well as a depth charge and missile guidance technology.
Medical Contributions
Samuel Alderson aided in creating "radiation phantoms," dummies that respond to radiation, allowing for practice of medical procedures without risk to patients. He also developed "synthetic wounds" used in emergency simulation training that behave like real wounds.
Later Career
Drawing on his diverse expertise, Alderson founded Radiology Support Devices, which supplied the medical industry. He later designed a dummy to test the water landing of the Apollo nose cone.
Death and Legacy
Samuel Alderson passed away on February 11, 2005, at his home in Marina Del Rey, California, from complications of myelofibrosis. He was survived by his sister, his three children, Jeremy, Samuel, and another son, as well as four grandchildren.
