Science & invention / Auto industry
Lawrence Patrick
1920–2006 · biomechanics researcher
Wayne State University professor who made himself a 'human crash-test dummy', enduring hundreds of rocket-sled rides and impacts to learn how bodies are hurt in car crashes.
- Born
- Died
- Detroit years
- 1960–1975
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Patrick was a professor of biomechanics at Wayne State University in Detroit from 1960 to 1975, at a time when the auto industry and government wanted hard data on what a crash does to the human body. Much of that data came from Patrick himself. He rode rocket sleds more than 400 times, took blows to the head and body and let a heavy pendulum strike his chest to measure what a steering column could do to a driver. 'I was a human crash-test dummy,' he later said. The research at Wayne State, carried out in the heart of the car industry, helped set limits on how much force the body can bear and shaped safety features such as padded dashboards and collapsible steering columns. One of his students, Harold Mertz, went on to develop the Hybrid III, the crash-test dummy used as the worldwide standard. Patrick died of Parkinson's disease in 2006 at 85.
Highlights
- Professor of biomechanics at Wayne State University, 1960–1975
- Took more than 400 rocket-sled rides as a human test subject
- Called one of the fathers of the crash-test dummy
- His student Harold Mertz developed the Hybrid III dummy, the world standard
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1960–1975
Wayne State University
He directed crash-impact research here, often using his own body as the test subject.