Lawrence Patrick
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Lawrence Patrick may well be considered the one of the fathers of the crash test dummy. Between 1960 and 1975, while a biomechanics professor at Detroit's Wayne State University, Patrick allowed himself to be subject to rocket sled rides, crushing blows to the head and body, and other forms of physical abuse in an effort to develop a body of data on how the human body responded in a vehicle accident. One of his students, Harold Mertz, went on to develop Hybrid III, the current world-wide standard crash test dummy. Lawerence also subjected himself to a 50 pound pendulum to the breast plate to test the effects of a steering coloumn on a human. Lawrence died of Parkinsons Disease on April 30, 2006 at the age of 85.[1]
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