An extraordinary pioneer in rebreathers, Dr. Christian Lambertsen

[Compressor]

Dear friends:

It is my privilege to present to you the extraordinary story of Dr. Christian Lambertsen, a pioneer in Rebreathers and very notable figure in our beloved sport of scuba diving.

Please enjoy it and marvel at what was done by this extraordinary human being.

Compressor

 

[Akimbo]

Nice find @Compressor!

Christian Lambertsen's most notable contribution to today's recreational diver is coining the acronym SCUBA. There is a brief mention of his work in the US Navy Experimental Diving Unit thread.

Here is the Wikipedia page on Christian J. Lambertsen

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

So cool.

 

[Akimbo]

Given the propensity of government Web sites to reorganize and break links, I created the attached Acrobat file to preserve it for future readers.

 

[Compressor]

Given the propensity of government Web sites to reorganize and break links, I created the attached Acrobat file to preserve it for future readers.

Fantastic. Thank you @Akimbo,

 

[Akimbo]

The attached 18 page pdf file describes history of Oxygen rebreathers in the US Navy, which, can't be discussed without detailing Dr. Lambertsen's work.

Closed-circuit oxygen diving in the U.S. Navy.​

F. K. BUTLER, Jr.​

Naval Special Warfare Command Detachment Pensacola, Florida​

 

[100days-a-year]

Given the propensity of government Web sites to reorganize and break links, I created the attached Acrobat file to preserve it for future readers.

It's almost like every agency has a fairy godmother in charge of hiding or losing all the valuable web content while keeping up all the dreck about what a great job they are doing.
Thanks for the permanent version.

 

[Akimbo]

It's almost like every agency has a fairy godmother in charge of hiding or losing all the valuable web content while keeping up all the dreck about what a great job they are doing.

To be fair, it is sort of understandable. It would take a great deal of foresight to create an archicture that works as Websites grow over time. The reason ScubaBoard's links (URLs) to posts don't break, even over 20+ years, is all our content is stored in a database so the post index number never changes — no matter what forum a post or thread is moved to or how we rename/reorganize our forums.

Wikipedia's URLs also seem to be very durable over time. I imagine they also use a database to either direct searches to the contend stored as files in a directory structure or inside an actual database.

 

[Sam Miller III]

@Compressor

Thank You for the post of a great man who contributed so much for so long.

Some years ago, possibly 25-30 I was working with Peter & Sharon Ready on a book on the history and function of rebreathers. At that time Peter was busy perfecting his rebreather which he referred to as "A Steam Machine"

Several historical-technical questions needed answers which only Dr. Lambertsen could answer. I obtained his telephone number and called him expecting a secretary and 50 questions be answered before I would be allowed to speak to the Doctor.

Wrong!

Much to my surprise Doctor Lambertsen answered and we had a very informative conversation. I called him several more times often asking questions for Peter or Sharon.

During one conversation I asked Sharon to call the doctor directly, Sharon and Peter were very proper English and had not acclimatized to American ways, they were horrified at the suggestion of calling without a proper introduction.

I called Dr. Lambertsen, informed him of Peter's research and that they needed to chat but were very proper English and needed and introduction which I had just performed.

Sharon called and had a " proper chat" (English term?) with the very approachable and likeable Doctor. I recall Sharon immediately telephoning me so excited about her conversation with the very knowledgeable friendly doctor

That was a long time ago....

The book was never published, at least by the Ready's.
(@Akimbo a story for the dark of the night over a cool one)

They departed SoCal and settled in the same small Tennessee town where I attended summer military school so long ago-- but still maintain their English accents and proper manners even though they are now very proud card caring naturalized Americans.

And that's my story ....
SDM

@100days-a-year


@Marie13

 

[Akimbo]

The book was never published, at least by the Ready's.

Did they finish the manuscript and couldn't convince a publisher? If so, it would be fantastic to publish it here on ScubaBoard!