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Introduction
Life and Scientific Career of C. Gordon Van Arman, Ph.D.
Richard P. Carlson*
C. Gordon Van Arman, Ph.D.
An Introductory Talk to precede the Van Arman Young Investigator Presentation Session at the W.C.O.\., Japan 2009: prepared by Richard P. Carlson, Ph.D*Today; as this presentat ion session of the C. Gordon Van Arman Young Investigator Awards begins, I will introduce to you the person of C. Gordon Van Arman Ph.D. by informing you about his life and scientific career. He was born in Detroit Michigan on December 29,1917; did his undergraduate studies at University of Chicago and, in 1949, received his Doctorate in Pharmacology from Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois.
Before his academic career began, the young Van Arman had served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War 11 where his expertise as an amateur radio-operator led him to an officer's position in radio communications. In Falmouth, England, he taught the Allies' D-Day invasion radio-operators and then directed them during that invasion of Europe on June 6, 1944, from the command
*Dr. Carlson was a close colleague, fellow researcher and friend of Gordon Van Arman from 1966-2002, and he expresses his thanks to Dr. Desiree Armstrong Van Arman for reviewing this Introduction .
ship, Ancon. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was awarded the Bronze and Silver Stars.
Still in Europe he enabled the escape, from the Nazis , ofVsevelod Kudravcev-- a man who later turned out to become the pioneer of magnetic resonance imaging, in 1959-1962: and then working at the National Insititutes of Health in Bethesda, Kudravcev developed the techniques of the imaging to measure accurately blood-flow and organ imaging.
Getting back to Van Arman (now back in the United States and having completed his academic training), he began his pharmacology career in drug research in 1950 at G.D. Searle, Chicago, Illinois. There during the 1950's Dr. Van Arman and associates discovered several diuretics including spironolactone (Aldactone)-- a drug whose therapeutic effects he himself was later to experience.
At Searle, he was responsible for the serendipitous discovery of diphenoxylate[co-phenidate] (Lomotil"), a very effective antidiarrheal drug in man. This is how it happened. Dr. Van Arman, who was always present in the laboratory during pivotal experiments, had...