West’s most legendary feat was leading the . He wanted to answer a fundamental question: How is it possible for humans to survive where oxygen levels are at the absolute limit of tolerance? .
Despite his high-altitude heroics, West is perhaps most beloved for his ability to simplify complex concepts. Respiration at the Limit John B. West, Respiratory physiology
In the late 1950s, while at Hammersmith Hospital in London, West gained access to one of the first medical cyclotrons. He used —a radioactive isotope with a half-life of only two minutes—to track how blood flowed through the human lung. West’s most legendary feat was leading the
