Wikipedia

Alice Mary Stoll

Alice Mary Stoll (1917 - 2014) was an American biophysicist who developed fire-resistant fabric. She was a pioneer in aerospace medicine. She received the Achievement Award from the Society of Women Engineers in 1969.

Alice Mary Stoll
fair use image only
Born
Long Island
Other namesAM Stoll
Alma materCornell University
Hunter College
Scientific career
InstitutionsUnited States Navy Reserve
Naval Air Development Center
Cornell University

Early life

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Stoll was born in Long Island.[1] She completed her bachelor's degree in chemistry and physics at Hunter College in 1938.[2] She earned a Masters in physiology and biophysics at Cornell University in 1948.[2] Whilst completing her postgraduate studies, Stoll worked as a research assistant at New York Medical College, studying metabolism and allergies using infrared spectroscopy.[2] Whilst a research assistant, Stoll invented a liquid cell for the Infrared spectrophotometer.[3]

Research and career

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After graduating Cornell University Stoll worked in the United States Navy Reserves and served as an active duty officer.[2] She worked simultaneously as a consultant for the Arctic Aeromedical Laboratory.[2] Stoll studied the impact of ultraviolet radiation on Entamoeba histolytica cysts.[4] She joined Cornell University again in 1946, working on temperature regulation and environmental thermal radiation.[2][5][6] In 1953 she joined the Naval Air Development Center (NADC), where she was a special technical assistant in the thermal laboratory.[2] Stoll did research into the high g-forces felt by humans in space and during air combat, developing the G-time tolerance curve ("Stoll curve") which is used to protect pilots from G-LOC.[1][7] and published in 1956.[8] [9] She demonstrated that grayout, blackout and unconsciousness were affected by the rate of onset, and acceleration level of aviation pilots. These results are sometimes expressed as a 'Stoll curve'[10] Stoll was the first woman to be subjected to extreme gravitational force, riding the NADC centrifuge to grayout at 7.5Gs.[11]

She also worked on the effects of heat and burns, to show the relationship between incident radiant energy density and exposure time. Stoll's thermal model was verified by blackening the volar surfaces of the forearms to thermal radiation and exposure to sources of heat, and recording levels of sensation and temperature rise, and further experiments on anesthetized rats and pigs. Confusingly, the near reciprocal relationship between maximum safe energy and exposure time, is also sometimes referred to as a 'Stoll curve'. [12]

She led the thermal laboratory between 1960 and 1964.[2] Whilst at NADC Stoll developed equipment to analyse heat transfer during contact with flames and monitor thermal tissue damage.[1][3][13][14] Stoll's guidelines on thermal safety resulted in the development of Nomex, a polymer based fibre with outstanding thermal properties.[15][16][17][18] Nomex was developed by DuPont in the 1960s and first came to market in 1967.[19]

In 1964 she became the lead for the biophysical and bioastronautical division.[2] In 1965 she was awarded a Federal Civil Service Award.[2] She was made a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Chair of the Technical Committee K-17 of the Heat Transfer Division in 1965.[3] She retired from the Naval Reserve as a commander in 1966.[1] The military recognised the importance of Stoll's research, writing a letter of commendation in the military publication the Navy Officer’s Jacket.[3] She was awarded the Achievement Award of the Society of Women Engineers in 1969 and the Aerospace Medical Association Paul Bert Award in 1972.[2][3][20] She was made the lead of the biophysical laboratory in 1970 and worked there until she retired in 1980.[2] In 1980 she was named Honorary Member of the Wing.[21] She was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.[1]

Death and legacy

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Stoll died in March 2014.[1] The Maria A. Chianta and Alice M. Stoll Professor of Physics Chair at Hunter College is in her honour.[22]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "Aerospace Medical Association". Aerospace Medical Association. Retrieved 2018-08-25.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wayne, Tiffany K. (2011). American Women of Science Since 1900. ABC-CLIO. p. 896. ISBN 9781598841589.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Hall of Fame (M - Z)". SWE Philadelphia Section. Retrieved 2018-08-26.
  4. ^ Stoll, Alice M.; Ward, Paul A.; Mathieson, Don R. (1945-05-04). "The Effect of Ultraviolet Radiation on Cysts of Endamoeba Histolytica". Science. 101 (2627): 463–464. Bibcode:1945Sci...101..463S. doi:10.1126/science.101.2627.463. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 17798998.
  5. ^ Stoll, Alice M. (February 1954). "A Wide‐Range Thermistor Radiometer for the Measurement of Skin Temperature and Environmental Radiant Temperature". Review of Scientific Instruments. 25 (2): 184–187. Bibcode:1954RScI...25..184S. doi:10.1063/1.1771018. ISSN 0034-6748.
  6. ^ Stoll, Alice M.; Hardy, James D. (April 1950). "Study of Thermocouples as Skin Thermometers". Journal of Applied Physiology. 2 (10): 531–543. doi:10.1152/jappl.1950.2.10.531. ISSN 8750-7587. PMID 15428400.
  7. ^ "G-LOC Demystified | Aviation Medicine :: Aerospace Medicine". www.avmed.in. 17 June 2012. Retrieved 2018-08-26.
  8. ^ M.D, Jeffrey R. Davis; Johnson, Robert; Stepanek, Jan (2008). Fundamentals of Aerospace Medicine. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. p. 98. ISBN 9780781774666.
  9. ^ Stoll, A. M. (1956). "Human tolerance to positive G as determined by the physiological end points". The Journal of Aviation Medicine. 27 (4): 356–367. OCLC 173372736. PMID 13345745.
  10. ^ Wise, John A.; Hopkin, V. David; Garland, Daniel J. (2016-04-19). Handbook of Aviation Human Factors, Second Edition. CRC Press. pp. 14–9. ISBN 9781420063578.
  11. ^ Avril, Tom (2019-07-11). "Before the moon voyage, astronauts rode the 'diabolical' spinning gondola in Warminster". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  12. ^ Stoll, Alice M.; Greene, Leon C. (May 1959). "Relationship between pain and tissue damage due to thermal radiation". Journal of Applied Physiology. 14 (3): 373–382. doi:10.1152/jappl.1959.14.3.373. ISSN 8750-7587. PMID 13654166.
  13. ^ Stoll, A. M.; Chianta, M. A.; Munroe, L. R. (1964-08-01). "Flame-Contact Studies". Journal of Heat Transfer. 86 (3): 449–456. doi:10.1115/1.3688717. ISSN 0022-1481.
  14. ^ STOLL, AM (July 1962). "Thermal protection capacity of aviator's textiles". Aerospace Medicine. 33: 846–50. ISSN 0001-9402. PMID 13917410.
  15. ^ M, Stoll, Alice; A, Chianta, Maria (1968-12-02). "A Method and Rating System for Evaluation of Thermal Protection". Archived from the original on November 19, 2017. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ Stoll, Alice M.; Chianta, Maria A. (November 1971). "Heat Transfer Through Fabrics as Related to Thermal Injury*†". Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences. 33 (7 Series II): 649–670. doi:10.1111/j.2164-0947.1971.tb02630.x. ISSN 0028-7113. PMID 5288391.
  17. ^ Advances in Heat Transfer. Academic Press. 1967-01-01. ISBN 9780080575582.
  18. ^ "Alice Stoll". Burlington County Times. Retrieved 2018-08-26.
  19. ^ admin. "Nomex® Knowledge Center | DuPont USA". www.dupont.com. Retrieved 2018-08-26.
  20. ^ "News Archive | Society of Women Engineers". societyofwomenengineers.swe.org. Retrieved 2018-08-26.
  21. ^ "The WING of AsMA". thewing.freeservers.com. Retrieved 2018-08-26.
  22. ^ "Home — Hunter College". www.hunter.cuny.edu. Retrieved 2018-08-26.
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