B. West, Respiratory Physiology: John

In the late 1950s, while at Hammersmith Hospital in London, West gained access to one of the first medical cyclotrons. He used —a radioactive isotope with a half-life of only two minutes—to track how blood flowed through the human lung.

: They recorded the first-ever physiological measurements on the summit. They found that climbers' bodies hyperventilate so drastically that the carbon dioxide in their lungs drops to nearly impossible levels (around 7.5 mmHg), which is what actually allows oxygen to reach the blood. John B. West, Respiratory physiology

: He proved for the first time that blood flow is strikingly unequal due to gravity. In the late 1950s, while at Hammersmith Hospital

: His team built a laboratory at 6,300 meters, carrying in tons of scientific equipment via remote trails. In the late 1950s