INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES
ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM
INTERVIEW WITH: DR. HUBERTUS STRUGHOLD
INTERVIEWER: INGRID KOKINDA
DATE: May 23, 1982
PLACE: Lobby of the Menger Hotel
Interview 7
IK: Good morning, Dr. Strughold.
HS: Good morning.
IK: Dr. Strughold, I 'd like to go back now to the 1940's when you f i rst joined the Department of, the School of
Aviation Medicine at Randolph. You joined this school in your capacity as a researcher in vision in the Department of
Opthalmology. Is that correct?
HS: Not in vision; generally Aviation Medicine. Flight physiology. The people had no place ready for me. They put me in this ...
IK: In the department ...
HS: of Opthalmology.
IK: Your chief in those days was Gene ral Armstrong.
HS: Ja. General Armstrong was the Commander.
IK: Of the School of Aviation Medicine.
HS: Yes.
IK: You discussed with him already, the possibility of space medicine, did you, in those days? STRUGHOLD 2.
HS: Yes. One day I suggested that we should have a Depart
ment of Space Medicine in addition to the Department of Op
thalmology and other departments. And he was very much for
it and started it immediately. And made me chief, then , of
the Department of Space Medicine.
IK : And that was in February, 1949.
HS : Yes.
IK: And the first symposium was held that same year.
HS: Ja.
IK : Do you remember how many people attended this symposium?
HS : ' 49. The first symposium, rather small , was held November
10, 1949, in the t heater at Randolph Field.
Six other prominent scientists f rom other Air Force insti
tutions and universities were invited for a panel discussion.
The papers from this symposium, were published in a survey
article, "Ivl.edical Problems in Space Travel" by Harry Armstrong,
Conrad Buettner, Heinz Haber, and me. And published in the
Journal of Aviation Medicine, 1949.
After we had worked on it for a number of months in
various fields in space medicine, I had the idea we shou ld have
a contract with engineers who had worked in t he field of rocketry. The pioneer man in this field was Werner Von Braun.
So I made a trip with my co-workers to Fort Bliss to Werner
Von Braun and met also Kraft Ericke. And we made some plans with them and to put the first monkey into space. Werner Von
Braun was very much interested in this medical aspect and so
I invited him to come to Randolph Field . He came one day and STRUGHOLD 3.
HS: gave a talk in a room to the students over there. Then
in the afternoon we went to a ranch and he was very much
interested in riding horses. And he did this. It was a
pleasure to see him. He was very pleased and carne back.
IK: Dr. Strughold, when you were out on the farm, was this
a farm, ranch, around San Antonio? With Werner Von Braun?
HS: It was a ranch in the neighborhood of this area.
IK: Out in Schertz?
HS: Not very far from it.
IK: Werner Von Vraun knew now to ride horses? He was very
fond of horses?
HS: Yes, he was an expert in this field. He rode the horse ...
IK: He must have looked handsome on ... riding around there.
Did he?
HS: Ja.
IK: And he had a good time in Texas.
HS: Ja. It was really something. He enjoyed just sitting on the horse ' and he went around some ... roads, and carne back and waved to us and mentioned again, the trip, he was interested in horse riding.
IK: Dr. Strughold, I know that the planet Mars was your fa vorite of all of the planets. If you had your choice today to go into space, to take a journey, where would you go?
HS: Only to the planet Mars.
IK: Can you explain why you have this preference?
HS: First of all the planet Mars is very well known 1n the STRUGHOLD 3.
HS: s ky and I have visited several astronomers in Arizona
who were expert on this planet and also, I wanted to make some
comparison with the earth and the planet Mars about t h e pos
sibility of life. I published a book, "The Green and Red
Planet." Usually Mars looks only red i n t he sky but I did
not like to use the word red p lanet and they would accuse me
that it is the planet of the Russians . Red Planet. So I
use d the word green and red planet--Mars.
IK: And the publication of this book preceded some experi
ments you did in Randolph?
HS: No. This was the result of i t, so to speak.
IK: The book was the result of these experiments .
(Mrs. S: Struggie , why don 't you tell Mrs . Kokinda
about your experiments that you all made at Randolph? Your
Mars j ars ... do you r e member about the Mars jars ~
HS: Ja. We had in the department some jars i n which we could
simulate the environment on Mars with regard to the water con
tent and the air. We put bacteria in it and a lso some lower
plants, very low algae and so on and find out if they could
live on Mars. And we changed also the temperature accordi ng
to the day and night cycle on Mars. It was for certain time,
several hours, ou tside; and certain hours inside in the refrig erator. We came to the conclusion that some of these lower bacteria and micro-organisms could survive on Mars . That was the story.
(Mrs . S: Struggie, you simulated t he same conditions i n your jars a s you t heore tically thought it would be on Mars.J STRUGHOLD 4.
HS: So we had to simulate, so to speak, conditions as on
Mars.
And we came to the conclusion some of the lower micro
organisms or bacteria could live on Mars.
END OF TAPE IV, Side 2, few minutes only.
TAPE V, Side 1
fMrs. S: ...... papers on the subject of Mars and given
many ...J HS: The planet Mars always fascinated me very much; more
than the other planets. Especially we could see Mars from
time to time in the sky very clearly.
For this reason, I have published a number of papers
which deal to some extent with the planet Mars as compared with the earth and other planets. And I gave a number of
lectures to the students in this field . The students always
enjoyed it . .. to hear something about some other planet than
the earth.
IK: I know that you wrote many papers, Dr. Strughold. Do you remember about how many you wrote?
HS: Yes. I wrote a little more than 180, perhaps 185 papers on space medicine and environment and so on and comparative physiology.
IK: All scientific papers.
HS: Yes.
(Mrs. S: On various subjects.)
HS: In addition to my interest in the planet Mars, I got interested in the situation in the flight on earth, especially STRUGHOLD 5 .
HS : if they cross more than on e or two time zones. And I
got interested in this field and published a book with t he
n ame , Your Body Clock, wh ich deals with j et lag . How people 's
mind is changed and the physiology is changed with the change
of time at another p lace. This was very important, especiall y
for diplomats. Some of the diplomats when they crossed more
than 4 time zone s they were not at thei r real mind when t hey
were at another place with a different time zone . And some
of t hem made a mistake. By this reason, this paper attracted
great interest. It was published by Scribners in New York.
All the first ladies r ead this book . When t hey made a trip
to Moscow and to Peking and when they had at t h e evening a
party they were sleepy at their own time . I got letters from
Betty Ford, a letter from Patricia Nixon, and a number of
diplomats who read t his paper. And I have also published a
paper in t he compendium in which I do not use the word body
clock; I use the word rhythmostat. "Stat" means a steady
state of the rhythm... into rhythmostat.
IK : Dr. Strughold, this is ver y interesting. Can you explain
it a little bit f urt h e r; how t his works?
HS : Yes. This circad i an rhythm is very important ... as I mentioned already, for diplomats . The word c i rcadian rhythm was coined by Franz Halber in Wisconsin. I t means circa ... around, a day. A rhythm aroun d the day , circadian rhythm.
One day a visitor at Randolph Field wanted to talk to me about this rhythm. Circadian rhythm and s o on . And he i n sisted to talk to me . Secr e t ly . I n a closed door . Nobody STRUGHOLD 6.
HS: should be present. And then he told me that they had
read my papers and the importance of it for diplomats and so
on. He wanted to know what President Eisenhower could do if
he would make a trip to Russia to meet with Nikita Kruschev.
We discussed this whole matter, secretly, in a closed room.
Since he was to travel to the east, I suggested for him that
the President should go to bed an hour earlier for about five
days before he would fly over there. Also, he should stop
in Europe for one day to get adapted to the Russian time.
That is what he did. And this advisor was very pleased he
had some advice to report to the President.
IK: Did the President ever get to meet Nicolai Kruschev?
In Russia?
HS: No, he did not meet him.
IK: Do you remember the reason?
HS: There was the U-2 incident. And they called off the trip.
IK: That was Gary Powers who was shot down over Russia that year.
QMrs. S: Don't you remember he was making the reconaissance
flight in the U-2 and the Russians shot at it and the plane came down and Gary Powers bailed out and they held him prisoner?
And because of all that, Kruschev just raved and ranted and pitched and snorted and the whole thing was that Kruschev didn't want to meet Eisenhower and that was his way of getting out of it. Eisenhower went to Europe, I believe, but he didn 1 t ever go any further. He came back homeJ STRUGHOLD 7.
IK: Dr. Strughold, you must have had a very busy time travel
ing around the country lecturing. What did you specifically
do for the students at Randolph?
HS: I advised the administration at Randolph to include
three kinds of courses. Primary course for the younger of
students; refresher course; and then advanced course. The
advanced course would last about several months.
In addition to the American students, many foreign stu
dents partici pated in these courses. Especially in the ad
vanced course.
IK: The students came from all over the world.
HS: They came from everywhere. Many from Canada, South
America, and of course, from Europe: from Germany, Austria,
Sweden, Norway and Denmark, and Spain. And Italy. Not so much from France because they knew everything!
IK: The French know everything! Did you also have students
from Arabia in those days and from the Orient?
HS: Yes. There were students especially from Saudia Arabia.
They liked this whole field. After some time they even in vited me to come to Saudi Arabia and give lectures there. And start as a medical doctor of the Saudi Arabian Air Force.
IK: But you never accepted that.
HS: No, I could not accept it because at that time I needed a gall bladder operation and did not like to make some of those long trips. IK: I also understand that in 1958 you had a very special visitor. STRUGHOLD 8.
HS: Yes. One day the Shah of Iran came.
IK: To Randolph?
HS: To Randolph Field. And listened to my lectures.
IK: And he brought his Empress along?
HS: Yes.
IK: Soroya, his first wife .
HS: Yes. Soroya.
[Mrs. S: Tell us about the Shah of Iran. Struggie,
when you were talking about the foreign students that came
over to Randolph to take your courses you left out the
Iranian students. And remember there were a lot of Iranians
that came for those courses and they were well qualified and
very intelligent officers. They took back this information
that you gave to them to teach it to their people . The Shah
became aware of what was going on in space medicine over here.
And when he came to the United States that particular t ime
in 1958, I think, he went to Washington first and then he
made a special trip to Randolph to see what was going on in
space medicine . So do you want to talk about that~
HS: Yes . Also, among my students were some students from
Iran. They were very much interested in this time zone cross
ing affair and they informed the Shah of Iran about this whole
matter and he got very much interested in i t and he decided
to make a trip to Randolph Field. So he could hear the
lectures.
(Mrs. S: Struggie, he was interested in your space medicine program too, very much. You know t hat's why he pre dominately came to Randolph. Now when he came to Randolph , STRUGHOLD 9.
MRS. S: as well as I remember it, he came out there to the
base and he stayed for a couple of hours and you showed him
around and there was a picture made of you and the Shah and
his wife, Soroya, in front of the little cabin simulator that
you called Terella. Do you remember that? And then that
picture disappeared. And we have not been able to find it.)
IK: What do you remember most about the Shah of Iran?
HS: He also visited Lyndon Johnson.
(Mrs. S: I think that's why he came to Randolph because
Lyndon Johnson had something to do with it.)
HS: And then Johnson brought him over to Randolph, ja.
IK: And he introduced the Shah to you?
HS: Ja. And Lyndon Johnson was busy and the Shah stayed
there.
CMrs. S: And Struggie escorted him around.J
IK: And you showed him around the facilities?
HS: Yes, I showed him around in the buildings and also we made a picture of him before the space cabin simulator with me, the Shah and his wife, Soroya. He was very much interested in this field and this whole matter made the headlines.
The space cabin simulator, so to speak, made the head lines, ja. Because of the importance of the experiments we were carrying out at that time.
IK: You had a special name for this simulator?
HS: I called it "Terella'' because we used the atmosphere like on earth like on "Terra." It is a small, little earth, STRUGHOLD 10 .
HS: "Terella." And if, in the space ship, the astronauts
are in space with no atmosphere and so on then they put atmos-
phere in this equipment and simulate everything that is on
earth.
IK: Dr. Strughold, when you wrote all your papers, were you
thinking about the possibilities of space and the effect on
the human body and so on, the language, where did you get the
words to describe all that?
HS: It was a little strange for the terrestial situation and
we had to form new words. As for instance ...
(Mrs. S: You coined quite a number of words which are
still in existence today, for example, the word bioastronauticsJ
HS: We had to coin some words, completely new. And they are
still used today. I coined for instance, the word space equi-
valence. That means conditions in the atmosphere which are ' similar to those in space. And then "ec)'(osphere" is a nother
term; then "bioastronautics. " I also looked for a kind of
geography in space and used the word 11 spaceography," "space- ography," and "astrobiology," "bioastronautics." These were all new terms and they are still used today and people think they are old, already hundreds of years. But they were coined in the '30's and 40's.
IK: No, in the 'SO's.
(Mrs. S: They were coined in the SO's and 60's, Sweetie]
HS: They were coined in the SO's and 60's.
IK: Dr. Strughold, when you first suggested to General Armstrong STRUGHOLD 11.
IK: about the department that needed to be created at Randolph,
did you also suggest the word, ''space?" The Department of
Space Medicine to him?
HS: Yes.
IK: You suggested that it should be called the Department of
Space Medicine?
HS: It was considered as very important by the scientific
people. And people who were interested in thi s field. But
some people thought it is nonsense. And when some visitors
carne, made a tour through the School of Aviation Medicine ,
and they saw one sign that said Department of Physiology ..
that was O.K.; Department of "Space'' Medicine some of the
visitors they thought it must be nuts. They did not believe
in the whole matter.
I gave l ots of lectures and I enjoyed the lectures ,
especially to the young students. Even children , teenagers,
who could not go to lectures I gave them copies of my typed
lectures to inform them about the future .. wh at is coming on.
And people who at first were not very much interested in space medicine and thought it was nuts stopped this thinking-
especially after t he first monkeys had been in space . And
the first astronauts. And that was now the field. And everybody was interested in it.
IK: I understand, Dr. Strughold, in 1951 you received the academic title of Professor of Aviation Medicine from the
Air University in Alabama. STRUGHOLD 12.
HS: Yes. Since I gave all these lectures and so on and be
came very well known to the students, and so on, I had t he
title of Professor of Aviation Medicine from the Air Univer
sity, Alabama.
IK: And in 1958 you were named the first Professor of Space
Medicine by the Air University. I understand you ' re still
the only one who holds this title.
HS: Several years l ater, I got the title from t he Air Univer
sity of Professor of Space Medicine. I am the only one wh o
has this title. Professor of Space Medicine a nd it is still
used today.
IK: I also understand that every year both i n the United
States and in Germany, people who are well-known and do im
portant research in space medicine are given plaques. In
the Un:i.t ed States, a Dr. Strughold p laque . And in Germany,
the Institute for Raumfahrt gives a medal.
(Mrs. S: I don't believe that's the exact way i t is.
Struggie , the "Hubertus Strughold Award" is given by the
Aerospace Medical Association, the branch under the Aero
space Medical Associat ion, annually to the most outstanding
individual who's made contributions in the space field. It
doesn't necessarily have to be space medicine, does it?]
HS: No.
(Mrs. S: Really, he doesn't know because the award was
set up to honor him by the branch in 1962 for this purpose .
Now t hat ' s American; that's in the United States.]
IK: The plaque . STRUGHOLD 13.
HS: Ja.
(Mrs. S: The "Hubertus Strughold Medal" was set up in
the '70's sometime in Germany. It is given annually for the
same purpose. I think that was the German Society ... ]
IK: The German Society for Luft-und Raumfahrt i n Munich .
HS: What year was that? '
(Mrs . S: It was in the '70 ' s some time , Struggie. I
don't r emember .. . around '74, someth ing like that.)
IK: Do you know who received it this year , i n 1982? The
plaque?
(Mrs. S: The Aerospace branch gave the Strughold Award.
It was Dr. Leverett ..J HS: Dr. Leverett.
IK : Re ceived it for this year.
HS: Ja , he got i t this year and in Germany Dr. Geratewohl
got it last year. And it was called Hubertus Strughold
Medaile ... medal . ..
IK : Dr. Strughold, I would l i ke to mention two ver y impor
tant honors that you received in t he l ast few years . That
was the naming of the library on Brooks Air Force Base after
you. On the 19th of January, 1977, the l ibrary at Brooks was named after y ou and is now known as the "Strughold
Aerospace Medical Library."
HS: Medical Library. The St rughold Aerospace Medical Library .
(And the other great honor .. )
IK: I understand that this l ibrary is t he largest medical library in the Air Force. STRUGHOLD 1 4 .
IK: Then on the 6th of October, 1978, you were i nstalled into
t he Internat ional Space Hall of Fame i n Alamogordo, New
Mexico. There is a portrait hanging , of you in the hall .. . I
can't wait to go there. I probably will go there this summer
a nd see Dr. Strughold i n the Space Ha l l of Fame.
HS: Yes . These were two great honors for me , the greatest
in my life. First, the Library at Brooks Air Force Base was
named after me and has now the name Hubertus Strughold Aero-
space Medical Library.
I still have an office there and I go there every after-
noon , aft er lunch and I get lots of visitors that like to see
this Hubertus Strughold Aerospace Medical Library. It is
t h e greatest , the largest in the Air Force .
And then the other great honor for me was t he installa-
tion in the International Space Hall of Fame in Alamogordo,
in October 6, 1978. I visited ther e with my wi fe and it was
a great honor to be there .
IK: I wish I could have been there with you.
HS: The installation into the International Space Hall of
Fame was a great event. Important people wer e present. The
governor of New Mexico was present , and some b irds flew over
(laughter) ... it was a great event, the ceremony.
(Mrs. S: Struggie, you don't mean birds, you mean
Thunderbirds ... those are the airplanes that flew over and saluted you .1 ~ HS: I did not mean sparrows, I meant Thunderbirds, were sent over there by the Air Force. STRUGHOLD 15.
IK : To salute you and .. .
HS: To salute me and ... That was it.
END OF TAPE V, Side l
TAPE V, Side 2
IK: Dr. Strughold, you were chief of, Chief Scientist o f
the Spac e Medicine at Brooks Air Force, after they moved from
Randolph. Until what yea r were you active, Chief Scientist?
What year did you reti re?
HS: ' 68 .
IK: 1968.
HS: I became then Honorary Consultant to the Aerospace Medical
Division, Emeritus . I am s till there .
IK : Professor Emeritus .
HS: Ja.
IK: And you still, I un derstand, you kept on lecturing to
students .
HS: Not too much . Perhaps only one in a week .
IK: And what was the other great event in your life, Dr.
Strughol d?
HS: In thi s area, I married for the f irst time , a beautif u l
Texas lady.
IK: What year was that?
HS: That was ten years ago.
IK : 1971.
HS : Yes .
IK : And you had been a bachelor all t hose years . STRUGHOLD 16.
HS: Ja. A super bachelor. (laughter)
IK: Then you became a house-bound (husband)
HS: Yes. Not house-bound, wife-bound.
IK: Not house-bound, wife-bound. How did you cope with
this?
HS: Very nice, very nice.
IK : And you ljke to be married?
HS: Yes. Yes.
IK: Dr. Strughold, I'd like to just go back now: before
you came to the United States , what was it about the United
States that had fascinated you all your life?
HS: I read several times, papers and books and so on, and
saw the pictures of the Indians and I had the opinion that in
the United States there are only I ndians there. And when I
came for the first time, over here, I was surprised that there
were not too many Indians. But I was very much interested in
these people.
IK : When you came to Texas , did you go and see Indians in
their reservation?
HS : Yes, I saw them. And I bought a lso t he head s* and some
clothes there.
*Headdresses. I appeared at some places sometimes, as
an Indian. That for me was the greatest honor.
IK: For instance, when the President used to dress up ... who was it ... President Taft? Was dressed up as an Indian once .. who was the one who had the beautiful head band? (Coolidg~ STRUGHOLD 17.
IK; Dr. Strughold, you also were fascinated by the cowboy
lore , were you?
HS: Yes, I liked that.
(Mrs. S : He bought boots and he bought a hat, a western
shirt, the whole bit. One day, out at Randolph , ... you under
stand that he was at that time , the very much dignified,
for mal , German professor. When he walked int o the room, his
students stood up and they trea ted him with awe .
Anyway, he had all this cowboy regal ia on and he went to
class with it and a s he was going down t he hall some student
says, "Hi, Tex" and S.truggie was just highly insulted. He
said no student in Germany would call his Professor , "Hi , Tex."
I had to calm him down and tell him that was just a friendly
expression and he had brought it upon himself rigged out like
a cowboy.]
IK : Did Pr esident J ohnson s ee you in that get- up , i n the cow
boy get-up, because he was always ready to give somebody a
Stetson.
HS: Yes, yes.
(Mrs. S: President Johnson was a f requent visitor to
Randolph Field.) HS: I met him a number of times. And somet imes I put some
friends , I ndian h eaddress on their heads and we made pictures
of i t. And one of these friends was General Si mp son . He
admir ed my headdress.
(Mrs. S: Somebody gave you t h at headdress , Struggie, and I think i t was the U-2 boys. You remember you went to STRUGHOLD 18.
Mrs. S: Del Rio once and you gave a lecture there and they
gave you ... what' s the Irish stick ... shilel eagh ... they gave
him a beautiful belt buckle and gave him that Indian headdress .
Somebody there knew that he loved Indians . It was a beauti-
ful t h i ngJ
IK: Do you still have it? (Mrs. S: It's almost falling apart now .. J IK: Dr. Strughol d, do you remember which authors i n Germany
you read abo ut Indians and cowboys?
HS: No, I do not remember the names. I was only interested
in the Indians . .. not in the authors.
IK : When you were a young boy, did you ever read Karl May?
HS: Yes, I read Karl May . His books stimulated me to get
interested in the Indians .
IK: Dr. Strughold, after you retired, you still kept up with
what was happening to astronauts and t he space program?
HS: Yes. I watched it very carefully . I had some friends
at NASA; some of the doctors who were formerly my students at
Randolph Field and were now in charge of the control of the
astronauts ' health .. . they always invited me to come over there
a n d stay for several hours every day in the Control Cen ter
and watch the circulation, heart beat, and so on of the astr onauts . It was a great honor for me. I was even there a t t he first Apollo l anding f l ight of Armstrong . And when I
left the Control Center an d wal ked over there, then I saw something in the air and it was unbelievable for me that our STRUGHOLD 19.
HS: astronauts were now on the way to the moon. That was
the greatest event in my life.
IK: That must have moved you to tears, didn't it, Dr. Strughold?
HS: Yes . Armstrong , and the other two astronauts.
IK: And the moon landi ngs ... were you in .. . (Houston)?
HS: I was in the Control Center.
IK : Also1 when they landed on the moon? HS: Ja. And when they talked over there ... it was just
unbelievable.
IK: What you had always dreamed of and you knew they could
do, right?
HS : Yes . Yes.
[Mrs . S: He still can't believe that somebody landed
on the moon .]
HS: But I am now very much interested in landing on Mars.
Not for me but for some astronauts . And if NASA does not do
it, then the Russians will do it. As you know, the Russians send sometimes some astronauts into space and they stay in orbit for 180 days and even longer. And that is just the time that it takes to make a flight to Mars . So it's my opinion that the Russians work in this respect. I remember , also, I tal ked with some of the Russian doctors like Dr.
Gazenko; they were very much interested in the situation of
Mars.
IK : What do you think would be the purpose then to land on
Mars? STRUGHOLD 20.
HS: To beat the Russians . An d if somebody can fly to Mars ,
that beats somebody who flies to the moon because it ' s mu ch
farther away.
IK : I t takes quite a while to get to Mars , doesn't it?
HS: Ja.
IK: You, of course, saw the pictures that were beamed back
to earth from Mars, the sharpest pictures, from Mariner.
HS: Yes , I have all these pictures.
IK: Were you surprised to see the photos of the surface con
dition of Mars?
HS: No , I was not surprised. Especially, not surprised that
they have these canals and so on, and the splits, because
it's a theory which was produced by Professor Dirak that t he
gravitational constant i s not a constant but i t decreases
slowly. For this reason , the planets have the splits . They
expand slowly as it does on earth. For t h is reason we have
some splits at the bott om of the oceans and some splits l ike
the Andreas fault i n California, which every year, several
centimeters gets broader. The same also refers to Mars. They have lots o f spl its or canals. This also b ased on t h is fact
the gravitation slowly decreases and the p lanets expand.
IK: You used to do e xperiments with sand frozen i n to a p ie p late .
HS : Yes .
IK: And what did you do with this?
HS : I want e d to see how i t looks then . And t here are on Mars certain points, wide points, that means this area i s hit by me t e orite s. STRUGHOLD 21.
IK: Could you explain your experiment again; what you did
with this pie plate?
(Mrs. S: Simulated the conditions as you thought they
were. Tell her what you did, Struggie.J
HS: They were hit by meteorites. Because I had this plate
of sand mixed with water and then frozen and then I shot on
it and I could see how it looks. It was a kind of simulation
of the hit of meteorites .
(Mrs. S: You shot that p l a te with your B-B-gun. You
shot at it to simulate what a meteorite striking Mars, is
what you were doingJ
I K: And then the photos that were sent back to earth about
the surface of Mars proved it out ... those craters, and so on,
didn't it?
HS: Ja. Very similar.
IK: Before I turn over the tapes for transcribing , I wo ul d
l ike to repeat what an enormous pleasure it was to interview
Dr. Strughold. I grew very fond of both Dr. and Mrs . Strughold
during the last four months. We had interviews in February,
March, April and in May .
I would a lso like to read into the record the biography
of Dr. Strughold again and his honors, his academic achieve ments , and his affiliations.
"Hubertus Strughold was born in Westphalia, Germany , on
15 June, 1898. He studied medicine and natural sciences at the Universities of Muenster, Goettingen, Munich and Wuerzburg STRUGHOLD 22.
IK: and received his Ph.D. from the University of Muenster
in 1922. He received his medical degree from the University
of Wuerzburg the following year.
After receiving his degr ees , Dr. Strughol d served as
Research Assistant to Professor Max Von Frey at the Physio
logical Institute in Wuerzburg until 1928 .. . specializing
early in Aviation Medicine . Dr. Strughold gave the first
l ectures ever on that subject in 1927 at the Un i versity of
Wuerzburg.
When he told his students that thousands of people would
be flying across the Atlantic in ten years, they laughed.
But they stopped laughing ten days later when Charles Lindbergh
made his historic flight across the Atlantic.
As a Fellow o f the Rockefeller Foundation, from 1928 to
1929, Dr. Strughold performed research at Western Reserve
University at Cincinnati, Ohio, under Professor Karl Wiggers
and at the University of Chicago under Professor A. Carlson.
From 1929 to 1935, Dr. Strughold was Research Assistant
and Associate Professor of Physiology and Aviation Medicine
at Wuerzburg. He was Director of the Aero-Medical Research
Institute in Berlin and Associate Professor of Physiology at
the University of Berlin from 1935 to 1945.
After World War II , Dr . Strughold became Professor of
Physiology and Director of the Physiological Institute at the University of Heidelberg.
In 1947, he accepted an invitation to join the staff of the USAF School of Aviation Medicine at Randolph Field, Texas, STRUGHOLD 2 3 .
IK: and has been active in the Air Force Space Medical pro
gram ever since.
Major General Harry Armstrong, then a Colonel and Comman
dant of the School of Aviation Medicine , at the suggestion of
Dr. Strughold created the Department of Sp ace Medicine--
with Dr. Strughold in charge, in February 1949. This depart
ment was the result of General Armstrong's realization that
jet and rocket air craft would take man into the region so
far above the ground that it was physiologically indistinguish
able from space.
During the next eight years the Department of Space
Medicine started the medical ground work for the man in t he u.s. space program, which was adopted as a national policy of
the United States.
The first studies of the environmental e ffects of space
travel were conducted at the Department. At the suggestion
of Dr. Strughold the department also designed and built to
his specifications the first space cabin simulator, which was, _
in e f fect , a laboratory prototype of a space craft, similar
to those used for the space program.
In 1951, the Air University, which included under its
command all the educational functions , conferred the academic
title, Professor of Aviation Medicine on Dr. Strughold. It named him Professor of Space Medicine in 1958. He is still
the only person to be so honored. And for this reason, he is often referred to as the Father of Space Medicine. STRUGHOLD 24.
IK: Dr. Strughold became a naturalized citizen of the United
States on 20 July, 1956.
From 1957 to 1962, Dr. Strughold held the position of
Advisor for Research at the School of Aviation Medicine , USAF,
Randolph Air Force Base and at the newly formed Aerospace
Medical Center at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas.
In 1960 he was assigned the additional dut y of Chairman of the Advanced Studies group at the Center.
The Air Force Systems Commander organized the Aerospace
Medical Division in 1962 to supervise the conduct of aero space medicine research for the Air Force and in support of the National Space Program.
Dr. Strughold became Chief Scientist of the new organi zation.
Throughout his career with the Air Force, Dr. Strughold exerted a great deal of influence on research of the medical biological problems encountered in the vertical frontier.
Dr. Strughold held the position of Chief Scientist at
AMD until his retirement in 1968. At that time, he was named
Honorary Consultant to AMD.
Dr. Strughold is the author and co-author of several books. Perhaps the best known of these is Your Body Clock ... its Significance for the Jet Traveler which deals with the effects of travel across time zones and in space on the body clock .
He also wrote The Green and Red Planet, a physiological study of the possibility of life on Mars. And he co-authored STRUGHOLD 2 5 .
IK : the text book Principles and Practices of Aviation
Medicine. He was co- editor of the book Phys ics and Medicine
of the Atmosphere in Space and has authored over a h undred and
eighty professional papers on physi ology, aviati on medicine
and space medicine.
Dr. Strughold is responsible for many of the terms used
daily in the fie ld of Aerospace Medicine. These terms in
clude, bioastronautics, wh i ch concerns itself with the effects
o f space travel on man; gravesphere , the area in which t he
gravitational field o f the body is dominant; and a strobiology ,
the study of the forms and phenomena of life in celestial
bodies .
Notable scientific contributions by Dr. Strughold include
the f ollowi ng:
Effects of global f light on t he day/night cycle of the
human body.
Levels o f the earth's atmosphere, the conditions corn
parabl e to those in space , known as a tmospheric space equiva
l eance .. another term coined by Dr. Strughold.
Regions favorable to life in the solar s ystem .. ecosphere,
another of his t erms .
Studies of earth organisms under simul ated Martian con ditions .
Development o f a geography of space . . spaceography , yet a n oth e r term coined by Dr . Strughold.
Visua l problems in space f light. STRUGHOLD 26.
IK: Dr. Strughold has been the recipient of numerous pro
fessional awards and honors. For his pioneer research in
space medicine, he received the Herman Oberth Medal of the
German Rocket Society in 1954. The Theodore C. Lyster Award
of the Aerospace Medical Association in 1958. The Exceptional
Civilian Service Award was presented by the Secretary of the
Air Force, James A. Douglas, Jr., in 1958. And the John J.
J effries Award of the Institute of Aero~autical Sciences in
1959. And several other awards from Jugoslavia, Sweden
and Hungary as well as the United States.
In 1970, the editor of the Mark Twain Journal conferred
the title "The Grand Knight of Mark Twain" on Dr. Strughold
in recognition of this outstanding contributions to modern medical science.
One of the greatest honors bestowed on Dr. Strughold was his induction into the International Space Hall of Fame in
Alamogordo, New Mexico on 6, October, 1978.
In 1951, Dr. Strughold received the academic title of
Professor of Aviation Medicine from the Air University in
Alabama.
In 1958, he was named first Professor of Space Medicine by the Air University. The medals include, in 1937, the medal Royal Saint Sava
Order, sixth class, government of Jugoslavia. 1937, Order of the Jugoslavian crown, government of Jugoslavia. 1942, the
Order of King Vasa, government of Sweden. 1943, Middle Cross STRUGHOLD 27.
IK: of the Holy Hungarian Crown, government of Hungary . 1954,
Herman Oberth Medal of the German Rocket Society.
I n 1964 the Melbourne W. Boynton award of the American
Astronautical Society, Inc. presented annually for outstand
ing contributions to the advancement of astronautics through
medical research. 1964, recipient of the Golden Plate by the
American Academy of Achievement, presented to America's men
of achievement, representing the many who excel in the great
fields of endeavor. 1965, awarded the Louis H. Bauer Founders
Award for the most significant contribution in space medicine
by the Aerospace Medical Association. 1971, Louis W. Hill ,
Space Transportation Award for prophetic foresight and excep
tional talents i n establishing the rational biomedical founda
tions for man's exploration of space , presented by the American
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Among his personal awards which carne in 1958, he holds
The Federal Civil Ser vant of the Year , awarded by the Society
for Personnel Administration, San Antonio Chapter, and the
Exceptional Civilian Service Award by the U.S. Air Force for
pioneer research in Space Medicine . Also in 1958, he was
named Alcalde (Mayor) of La Villita by Mayor J. Edwin
Kuykendall of San Antonio , Texas . In 1964, he was awarded
the Bronze Plaque of the U.S. Air Force, School of Aerospace
Medicine for 15 years of service to the science of space medicine . Also in 1964, he was awarded an honorary member
ship in the Royal Aero Club of Spain by the government of STRUGHOLD 28.
IK: Spain. On January 19, 1977, the Aerospace Medical
Library, largest in the Air Force, was named the Dr. Strughold
Aerospace Medical Library in honor of Dr. Strughold. The
Hubertus Strughold Award was established in 1962 by the Aero
space branch of the Aerospace Medical Association to be given annually to an individual who has made significant contribu tions to space medicine. Also the Hubertus Strugh old medal was established in Germany by the German Society for Air and
Space Flight for the same purpose.
In 1968, exceptional Civilian Service decoration for extraordinary creative thinking, unusual perception, and keen analysis of scientifi c development has contr ibuted to advance ment of knowledge in the field of aerospace medicine, awarded by the United States Air Force . 1960, made an honorary mem ber of the Texas Navy, by Governor John B. Connally. In 1973,
Americanism award for outstanding contributions to the ad vancement of the American principles of freedom, justice and equality by a naturalized citizen. Awarded bythe Daughters of the American Revolution.
On 25 May, 1965, the House of Representatives of the
State of Texas adopted a resolution, HSR , No. 539, citing Dr.
Strughold for his numerous and significant contributions to space medicine and for the role he has played in making pos sible United States achievements in space.
Dr. Strughold's affiliations in the International field:
International Astronautica, Federation of International STRUGHOLD 29.
IK: Academy of Astronautics , Lunar International Labor atory
Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics ,
Chairman, Mars International Laboratory Commi ttee of t h e
International Academy of Astronautics, International Academy
of Aviation and Space Medicine.
In the United States he is affiliated with American
Physiological Society, Space Medicine branch of t he Aerospace
Medical Association, (he was a charter member of it) , Aero-
space Medical Association, a fellow ; American Astronautical
Society , Inc., American Rocket Society , fel low, American
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, fellow .
END OF TAPE V, Side 2
(Ed: We sttuenen - i s spelled 2 ways - could n ot get a con eenstis) STRUGHOLD , DR . HUBERTUS, 7 I NDEX
Aviation Medicine , School of, Space vocabu1ary,10
1,2, 9-11 Time Zones, 5 , 6
Biographica l, 1,2,4,7-19 Von Braun,Werner, 2 , 3
Mars, 2- 4 , 19-21