Vernon Rogallo's Ballistocardiograph
Vernon L. Rogallo joined the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in April 1948 working as an aeronautical research scientist and project engineer. In 1958, he started working in NASA's instrumentation division where he developed instruments for biomedical, aeronautical, and space research applications until his retirement in 1969.
He is best known for his adaptation of a momentum transducer into a ballistocardiograph, a device that is still used today to measure ballistic forces on the heart. While working on the ballistocardiograph, Rogallo earned the nickname
"egg man" of Ames due to his use of the highly sensitive instrument to measure the heartbeat of avian embryos. He is seen here holding a bobwhite quail chick.
Credit: NASA/Emerson Shaw
Image Number: AC-31205
Date: July 22, 1963
Vernon Rogallo's Ballistocardiograph
Vernon L. Rogallo joined the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in April 1948 working as an aeronautical research scientist and project engineer. In 1958, he started working in NASA's instrumentation division where he developed instruments for biomedical, aeronautical, and space research applications until his retirement in 1969.
He is best known for his adaptation of a momentum transducer into a ballistocardiograph, a device that is still used today to measure ballistic forces on the heart. While working on the ballistocardiograph, Rogallo earned the nickname
"egg man" of Ames due to his use of the highly sensitive instrument to measure the heartbeat of avian embryos. He is seen here holding a bobwhite quail chick.
Credit: NASA/Emerson Shaw
Image Number: AC-31205
Date: July 22, 1963