Dintenfass, Leopold

Dr Leopold Dintenfass, PhD, MSc. New South Wales, F.R.A.C.I., F.I.C.A., A.M.I.E (Aust) was born on the 29th April 1921 and died on the 8th August 1990. He was the Director of Haemorheology and Biorheology and a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Sydney from 1962-75.

Dintenfass was a physical chemist and medical scientist and developed the first Australian experiment conducted on a space shuttle. He also published widely on Haemorheology and Biorheology and had the support of colleagues from universities all over the world. He campaigned continuously for funding for his experiments in Australia and overseas.

Dintenfass' principal area of study was the kinetics and morphology of red blood cells and his work focused principally on the effects of the bends and decompression and space sickness. This included an experiment on the Space Shuttle Discovery and plans for an experiment to be conducted on the ill fated Challenger space shuttle in 1986. Among the correspondence are various letters written by Dintenfass to NASA, regarding the experiment that was to take place on the shuttle and telegrams from NASA relating to the Challenger disaster in 1986.