Edward F. Adolph,PhD: A Preeminent Physiologist Who Studied Human Exposure to Desert Heat

Abstract

During combat with German Nazis in the deserts of North Africa, it became imperative for the United States Army to research to ascertain the physiological limits of military ground troops subjected to extreme desert heat exposure. In the 1940s, Edward F. Adolph, PhD, from the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry (URSMD), was funded through a contract with the government to initiate research on human tolerance to the extremes of desert heat. Consequently, Adolph and his associates established the university's Desert Research Unit in the California desert. In the 1930s, a team from Harvard University's Fatigue Laboratory established the “Harvard Desert Expedition” for field research in the Nevada desert. Notably, both Harvard and Rochester research teams investigated human metabolic responses in desert heat, with Dr Adolph participating in both desert locations. These field studies were conducted during Adolph's time as a faculty member in the Department of Physiology at the URSMD, which spanned over 62 years. Adolph's research interests encompassed investigations into the physiological responses of humans in desert environments, including regulation of water and heat metabolism, sweat formation, dehydration, thirst, physiological adaptations to extreme heat, and survival without water. Adolph authored or co-authored a substantial body of work, including 155 articles and 4 books, culminating in the seminal text Physiology of Man in the Desert (1947). We aim to provide some pertinent lessons learned and practical applications derived from the research conducted by Adolph and his associates in the desert.