Luft, U. C. (Ulrich C.)

Research physiologist, physician, and authority in the fields of lung physiology and acclimatization to high altitude. Luft was a member of the 1937 and 1938 German expeditions to Nanga Parbat in the Himalayan Mountains. He served as chief of the Dept. of Aviation Physiology at the Aero-Medical Research Institute in Berlin. Luft entered the U.S. in 1947 as part of the "Operation Paperclip" recruitment program. He served as head of the Dept. of Physiology at the Air Force School of Aviation Medicine, Randolph Field, Texas, and at the Lovelace Medical Foundation in New Mexico.

From the description of Ulrich Cameron Luft papers, 1907-1991. (University of California, San Diego). WorldCat record id: 40690062

German physiologist who emmigrated to the U.S. after WWII.

From the description of Oral history [videorecording], between 1990 and 1997. (University of California, San Diego). WorldCat record id: 39004783

Biography

The son of a Scottish mother and German father, Ulrich Cameron Luft was born in Berlin on April 25, 1910. He studied medicine at the universities of Freiburg, Munich and Berlin, 1929-1935. After a year as an intern, he was licensed as a physician and in 1937 completed a doctoral thesis on the physiological effects of oxygen deprivation.

Luft took part in the 1937 and 1938 German mountaineering expeditions to Nanga Parbat in the western Himalayas as research physiologist and team physician. Impressed with the stamina of the Sherpa guides, he realized there were adaptive mechanisms that could be studied. He collected data on the climbers, noting that tolerance to altitude increased over time and that this acquired tolerance persisted after descent. This effect was important in the unpressurized aircraft of the time and would become of vital importance during World War II.

Returning to Germany, Luft joined the Luftfahrtmedizinische Forschungsinstitut (Aero-Medical Research Institute) in Berlin as head of its altitude physiology laboratory. He was drafted for military service in 1939 and spent three months in training, then returned to civilian status as a researcher. In 1941 he married a colleague, Alice Hentzelt, and the following year he was elected to the faculty at the University of Berlin. The requirements of military aviation focused Luft's research on rapid decompression, diffusing capacity of the lungs and duration of consciousness at altitude. He was also a consultant to the German military on thermal stress and nutrition.

The university and institute were closed when the war ended, and Luft started a private medical practice. When the university reopened he was asked to become Acting Director of the Physiology Department. In April, 1947, Col. Harry Armstrong of the U.S. Air Force offered Luft a research appointment at the Air Force School of Aviation Medicine at Randolph Field, Texas. The offer was made under "Operation Paperclip," a program to bring German scientists to the United States.

Luft was a researcher at the School until 1954, when he was asked by Randolph Lovelace to head the Department of Physiology at the Lovelace Clinic for Medical Education and Research in New Mexico. His research interests continued to center around the effect of oxygen deficiency on body tissues, leading to his contributions in a variety of fields: pulmonary disease, exercise tolerance, oxygen equipment design, and the testing and selection of the first Project Mercury astronauts in the early days of the NASA space program.

A productive researcher and teacher with an extensive publication list and enduring ties with his former students, Luft received many awards and was honored with a symposium after his retirement in 1980.

Ulrich Luft died on November 23, 1991, at his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

From the guide to the Ulrich Cameron Luft Papers, 1907-1991, (University of California, San Diego. Geisel Library. Mandeville Special Collections Library.)

Ulrich Cameron Luft (1910-1991) was born in Berlin, Germany on April 25, 1910 to a Scottish mother and a German father. As a child he spent considerable time in Scotland including one extended visit in 1914 which lasted six years due to World War I. Luft graduated from the University of Berlin medical school in 1935. After an internship in Berlin, he spent two years in pathology and completed a doctoral thesis on the morphological changes in tissues in heart muscles and the brain on exposure to hypoxia stimulated by low pressure in a small lo-pressure chamber.

Combining interests in mountaineering and medicine, Luft participated in the 1937 and 1938 German expeditions to Nanga Parbat in the Himalayas as a research physiologist and team physician. His observations of the Sherpa guides at high altitudes led him to collect data on the climbers, noting an increased tolerance to altitude over time that persisted after descent. This effect was applicable to the unpressurized aircraft of the time and to aero-medicine during World War II.

Dr. Luft became the head of the altitude physiology laboratory at the Aero-Medical Research Institute in Berlin after returning from the Himalayas. In 1939 he was drafted into military service, spent three months in training, and then returned to civilian life as a researcher. In 1941, he was elected to the faculty at the University of Berlin where he focused his research on problems in aviation medicine. He was also a consultant to the German military on thermal stress and nutrition.

At the end the war, Dr. Luft opened a private practice and returned as faculty to the University of Berlin. In 1947, he was given a research appointment at the Air Force School of Aviation Medicine in Texas as part of “Operation Paperclip,” an effort to bring German scientists to the United States. In 1954, Luft was hired by William Randolph Lovelace II to head the Physiology Department at the Lovelace Foundation for Medical Education and Research in Albuquerque, New Mexico. There he continued his research efforts in the effect of oxygen deficiency on body tissues. This research impacted the fields of pulmonary disease, exercise tolerance, oxygen equipment design and led to his participation in the physical testing of the original Mercury astronauts at Lovelace.

Dr. Luft retired from Lovelace in 1980 and died at his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on November 23, 1991.

From the guide to the Ulrich C. Luft Oral History, 1985