Samuel W. Alderson (October 21, 1914 – February 11, 2005) was an inventor best known for his development of the crash test dummy, a device which, during the last half of the twentieth century, was widely used by automobile manufacturers to test the reliability of automobile seat belts and other safety protocols. Events 1512 - Martin Luther joins the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg. Year 1914 ( MCMXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Events 660 BC - Traditional founding date of Japan by Emperor Jimmu. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. For the band see Crash Test Dummies. For the series of toys see The Incredible Crash Dummies. The twentieth century of the Common Era began on A seat belt, sometimes called a safety belt, is a Safety harness designed to secure the occupant of a Vehicle against harmful movement that may result from
Alderson was born and raised in California. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. He graduated from high school at the age of 15 and went on to study at several well-known California colleges. He frequently interrupted his education to help out with the family sheet-metal business. He completed his formal education at the University of California, Berkeley under the tutelage of J. Robert Oppenheimer and Ernest O. Lawrence, but did not complete his doctoral dissertation. The University of California Berkeley (also referred to as Cal, Berkeley and UC Berkeley) is a major research university located in Berkeley Ernest Orlando Lawrence ( August 8, 1901 – August 27, 1958) was an American physicist and Nobel Laureate best known for his
In 1952, he began his own company, Alderson Research Laboratories,and quickly won a contract to create an anthropometric dummy for use in testing aircraft ejection seats. Year 1952 ( MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. At about the same time, automobile manufacturers were being challenged to produce vehicles which were safer for their occupants than those which had previously been built, and to do so without relying on either live volunteers or human cadavers. A cadaver or corpse is a dead Body. "Cadaver" is normally used as a more formal term for a body being used in medical training or research
In 1966, the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act was passed, which together with Ralph Nader's book, "Unsafe at Any Speed" put the search for an anatomically faithful test dummy into high gear. Year 1966 ( MCMLXVI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act allowed new standards to be set by the federal government Ralph Nader (born February 27 1934 is an American Attorney, Author, Lecturer, political activist, and independent candidate for President With this as a goal, Alderson produced the V. I. P. , a dummy designed to mimic an average male's acceleration and weight properties, and to reproduce the effects of impact like a real person. His work went on to see the creation of the Hybrid family of test dummies, which as of the beginning of the 21st century are the de facto standards for testing.
Alderson also worked for the U. S. military. During World War II, he helped develop an optical coating to improve the vision of submarine periscopes, and worked on depth charge and missile guidance technology. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including He also helped create dummies, known as "medical phantoms", that reacted to radiation, and synthetic wounds, used in emergency training simulations, which behaved like real wounds. Later on, he built dummies to test the Apollo nose cone's water landing capability.
Alderson died at his home in Marina Del Rey, California, due to complications from myelofibrosis. Marina del Rey is a seaside Unincorporated area of Los Angeles County California. Myelofibrosis, also known as myeloid metaplasia, chronic idiopathic myelofibrosis, and primary myelofibrosis, is a disorder of the Bone marrow