Scope and Contents note

Halkett and Wesolow(ski) materials show the process of technological innovation through laboratory protocols. They also demonstrate the various alternatives explored in the search for effective artificial circulation by using materials which would not damage or clot blood and that could be sterilized. The evolution of the pumping mechanism and power source, the design and materials of the pump itself, and a series of catheters (cannulae) or varying shapes and materials are described as a workable solution is found. Secondly, diversity of techniques developed to solve the problems of artificial circulation and their contributions to that work are documented.

The 2018 addenda documents the life and career of physicist James A.E. Halkett. It includes papers relating to his education, his U.S. Navy service, his work with various employers, and his research in various fields including radio, metallurgy, ordnance, and radioactivity. Some of the papers relate to his work with General Electric in developing the proximity fuse. The papers include correspondence and notes, including lab notes, graphs and charts; reports; drawings; photographs; training and operational manuals; bibliographic card files; journals, conference materials and other publications; and miscellany.

Arrangement

The collection is organized into three series with subseries.

Subseries 1.1.1: Wooster College, 1938-1942

Subseries 1.1.2: Henry Ford Trade School, 1941

Subseries 1.1.3: Non-Degree Granting Courses, 1943-1944

Subseries 1.1.4: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1940-1966

Subseries 1.1.5: Tufts University, 1948-1949

Subseries 1.1.6: Johns Hopkins University, 1949-1954

Subseries 1.1.7: Boston University (PhD Candidate), 1960-1964

Subseries 1.2.1: A.S. Campbell, 1942

Subseries 1.2.2: General Electric, 1944

Subseries 1.2.3: U.S. Navy, 1940-1946

Subseries 1.2.4: Boston Veterans Administration Hospital, 1940-1973

Subseries 1.2.5: Boston University (Lecturer), 1957-1961

Subseries 1.2.6: Professional Associations, 1950-1974

Subseries 1.2.7: Reprints and Reprint Requests, 1922-2010

Subseries 1.4.1: Mechanical Cardiac Pump, 1949-1950

Subseries 1.4.2: Leukemia in Mice, circa 1960s

Subseries 1.4.3: Experiments, circa 1950s

Subseries 1.4.4: Civil Defense and Medical and Health Services, circa 1950s

Subseries 1.4.5: Effects of the Atomic Bomb, circa 1945

Biographical/Historical note

James Alexander Elder Halkett was born in 1920 in Scotland to inventor James Nicol Halkett, and Edith Victoria Elder. At age three, Halkett immigrated to the United States with his family. He attended Wooster College from 1938-1942 and graduated as the first student at the university to triple major in math, chemistry, and physics. Upon graduating from Wooster College, Halkett worked for the companies A.S. Campbell and General Electric before becoming a U.S. citizen in 1944 and immediately joining the U.S. Navy. During his time in the Navy, Halkett completed the intensive Electronics Training Program and attended the Pre-Radio School, Bliss Electrical School, and the Radio Materiel School. Halkett was stationed in Panama and served as a radio technician until 1946.

After discharge from the Navy in 1946, Halkett attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 1946-1948 and earned his master's degree with his thesis titled "An Artificial Heart." At MIT he began to develop the early extracorporeal mechanical heart alongside his colleague Bill Sewell, which in 1948 became the first mechanical heart to successfully bypass the left side of a cat's heart. This work was continued at Tufts University from 1949-1950 alongside Dr. Sigmund A. Wesolowski, M.D. (now named Adam Wesolow), with the pair further modifying the cardiac pump which resulted in the long-term survival of animals after bypass surgery. Neither Halkett nor Wesolowski went on to develop this technology for trials with human subjects.

Halkett completed a predoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University from 1950-1952, where he expanded his interest in tissue culture and biophysics. Following his time at Johns Hopkins, he served as a Senior Biologist in the field of Radioisotopes at the Boston Veterans Administration Hospital until 1974. At the hospital, he conducted research on radiology, leukemia, and nuclear medicine. He also served as the hospital's Chief of Research in Animal Medicine, Science, and Technology (RILAMSAT) from 1968 to 1972. While working at the Boston Veterans Administration Hospital, Halkett earned his Doctor of Philosophy from Boston University in 1964, where he was also a lecturer. Halkett died in 2015 at the age of 94.

Sigmund Adam Weslowski (1921-1993) was born in Massachusetts and attended Harvard University before servng as a midshipman in the Naval Reserve during World War II and later as a captain during the Korean War in the Army Medical Corps. He received a medical degree from Tufts College of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts and spent one year at Guy's Hospital in London under Lord Russell-Brock where he specialized in thoracic surgery. Wesolowski was Professor of Surgery at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. In the 1980s' he was chief thoracic surgeon at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Togus, Maine. Wesolowski helped devise a heart pump in the early days of open-heart surgery at Tufts University from 1949-1950 alongside Dr. James A.E. Halkett. The pair further modified the cardiac pump which resulted in the long-term survival of animals after bypass surgery.

Related Materials

Objects related to this collection (See accession 1985.0101.01–1985.0101.67) are located in the Division of Medicine and Science at the National Museum of American History. The objects relate to Halkett and Wesolow's early mechanical heart, and include valves, valve holders, valve chambers, pumps, pump parts,tubing, stroke chamber stoppers, reservoirs, cannulae, and cam systems.