Philip Drinker (December 12, 1894 – October 19, 1972) was an industrial hygienist. With

Louis Agassiz Shaw Louis Agassiz Shaw Jr. (September 25, 1886 – August 27, 1940) was an instructor of physiology at the School of Public Health of Harvard University, where he is credited in 1928 along with Philip Drinker for inventing the Drinker respirator, ...

, he invented the first widely used

iron lung An iron lung is a type of negative pressure ventilator (NPV), a mechanical respirator which encloses most of a person's body, and varies the air pressure in the enclosed space, to stimulate breathing.Shneerson, Dr. John M., Newmarket General ...

in 1928.

Family and early life

Drinker's father was railroad man and

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epis ...

president Henry Sturgis Drinker; his siblings included

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

and

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

Henry Sandwith Drinker, Jr.,

pathologist Pathology is the study of the causal, causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when us ...

Cecil Kent Drinker, businessman James Drinker, and

biographer Biographers are authors who write an account of another person's life, while autobiographers are authors who write their own biography. Biographers Countries of working life: Ab=Arabia, AG=Ancient Greece, Al=Australia, Am=Armenian, AR=Ancient Rome ...

Catherine Drinker Bowen Catherine Drinker Bowen (January 1, 1897 – November 1, 1973) was an American writer best known for her biographies. She won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 1958. Biography Bowen was born Catherine Drinker on the Haverford College cam ...

. After graduating from St. George's and

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

in 1915, Philip Drinker trained as a

chemical engineer In the field of engineering, a chemical engineer is a professional, equipped with the knowledge of chemical engineering, who works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of products and deals with the ...

at Lehigh for two years. Drinker was hired to teach industrial illumination and ventilation at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

and soon joined his brother

Cecil Cecil may refer to: People with the name * Cecil (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name) * Cecil (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Places Canada *Cecil, Alberta, ...

and colleagues

Alice Hamilton Alice Hamilton (February 27, 1869Corn, JHamilton, Alice''American National Biography'' – September 22, 1970) was an American physician, research scientist, and author. She was a leading expert in the field of occupational health and a pioneer ...

and David L. Edsall on the faculty of the nascent

Harvard School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. The school grew out of the Harvard-MIT School for Health Officers, the nation's first ...

in 1921 or 1923. He studied, taught, and wrote textbooks and scholarly works on a variety of topics in industrial hygiene; the iron lung itself was originally designed in response to an industrial hygiene problem—coal gas poisoning—though it would become best known as a life-preserving treatment for

polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...

. Charles Momsen credited Drinker "and his friends" for their assistance with gas-mixture experiments that ultimately made possible the rescue of the survivors of the USS ''Squalus'' in 1939.Momsen, Charles B. "Rescue and Salvage of U.S.S. ''Squalus''." Lecture delivered to the Harvard Engineering Society on October 6, 1939
Text available online.
Accessed March 17, 2007. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Drinker directed the industrial hygiene program for the

United States Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 195 ...

. After the war, he advised the Atomic Energy Commission. Drinker served as editor-in-chief of '' The Journal of Industrial Hygiene'' for over thirty years and, in 1942, as president of the

American Industrial Hygiene Association The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) is a 501(c)6 non-profit organization, whose mission is "Creating knowledge to protect worker health." The American Industrial Hygiene Association works to provide information and resources to Ind ...

, to which he had belonged since its inception. He retired from Harvard in 1960 or 1961. Drinker received the Donald E. Cummings Award from the

in 1950. He was later was inducted into the US National Inventor's Hall of Fame in 2007. Drinker iron lung

He and his wife Susan"Philip Drinker." ''American Industrial Hygiene Association journal.'' May 1973: 34(5), 179-181.
Available online by subscription.
/ref> had a son, bioengineer Philip A. Drinker,Sallans, Andrew
"iron lung." online exhibit.
University of Virginia, Claude Moore Health Sciences Library. 2005. Accessed March 18, 2007. and 2 daughters, Susan Drinker Moran (1926-2010), author, and Eliza Scudder, educator.

Publications

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drinker, Philip 1894 births 1972 deaths 20th-century American inventors Lehigh University alumni Harvard Medical School faculty People from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Drinker family Princeton University alumni St. George's School (Rhode Island) alumni