Pike's Peak Expedition
Haldane pioneered study of the reaction of the body to low air pressures, such as that experienced at high altitudes. He led an expedition to Pike's Peak in 1911, which examined the effect of low atmospheric pressure on respiration.
In addition to his work on mine atmospheres, he investigated the air in enclosed spaces such as wells and sewers. One surprising result of his analysis of the air in the sewers beneath the House of Commons was to show that the level of bacterial contamination was relatively low. During this research, he investigated fatalities of workmen in a sewer, and showed that hydrogen sulfide gas was the culprit.
Read more about this topic: John Scott Haldane
Famous quotes containing the words pike, peak and/or expedition:
“Death had his grudge against me, and he got up in the way, like an
armed robber, with a pike in his hand.”
—Petrarch (1304–1374)
“Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his penthouse lid;
He shall live a man forbid;
Weary sev’n-nights, nine times nine,
Shall he dwindle, peak and pine;
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-tossed.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Writing a novel is not merely going on a shopping expedition across the border to an unreal land: it is hours and years spent in the factories, the streets, the cathedrals of the imagination.”
—Janet Frame (b. 1924)