science

Richard DeWall

Richard DeWall is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Richard DeWall rather than just read about it. In short: Richard A. DeWall (1926–2016), was an American cardiothoracic surgeon who in 1955 created the first workable, portable bubble oxygenator that removed bubbles, thus avoiding gas embolism during cardiopulmonary bypass.

Key takeaways

Richard DeWall belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Richard DeWall to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Richard DeWall from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Richard A. DeWall (1926–2016), was an American cardiothoracic surgeon who in 1955 created the first workable, portable bubble oxygenator that removed bubbles, thus avoiding gas embolism during cardiopulmonary bypass. Later, he wrote the original plans for what became the Wright State University School of Medicine.

Early life and education Richard Alison DeWall was born on 16 December 1926 to Grace Gardner and Herman Harvey DeWall in Appleton, Minnesota. After serving in the U.S. Navy until October 1945, he graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1949 and subsequently gained his MD in 1953.

Career John Gibbon had invented the heart-lung bypass machine and performed the first repair of the heart from the inside of the heart, using extracorporal perfusion in 1953. In 1955, John W. Kirklin, who was a surgeon also researching heart-lung machines, was successful in using Gibbon’s modified heart-lung machine via a pump-oxygenator. Soon C. Walton Lillehei, who worked nearby, abandoned his technique of cross-circulation via a parent as a method of diverting blood through an external circuit. Gaining experience of the heart-lung machine while taking care of the procedure during anaesthetists breaks and challenged by Lillehei to find a solution to the undesired bubbles, DeWall became interested in the problems connected with oxygenating blood and in 1955, developed the first bubble oxygenator that removed bubbles, thus avoiding gas embolism. Silicon antifoam and Mayon polyethylene tubing were two important components of this Lillehei-DeWall bubble oxygenator. 350 open-heart operations were performed at the University of Minnesota within the following two years. DeWall founded the first open heart surgery programme at Kettering Hospital and later became the director of the general surgery residency-training programme there, which he established.

Death and legacy DeWall died at his home in Dayton, Ohio on 15 August 2016. In 2018 he was posthumously inducted into the Dayton Region's Walk of Fame. A replica of his first oxygenator is on display at the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution.

Selected publications "Cardiovascular Inventiveness Within the University of Minnesota Department of Surgery", The Annals of Thoracic Medicine (June 2005), Vol. 79, Issue 6, pp. 2214–2216, doi:10.1016/j.athoracsur.2005.03.030 "Origins of open heart surgery at the University of Minnesota 1951 to 1956", The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (August 2011), Vol. 142, Issue 2, pp. 267–269, doi:10.1016/j.jtcvs.2011.04.021 "The Evolution of the Helical Reservoir Pump-Oxygenator System at the University of Minnesota", The Annals of Thoracic Medicine. The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. (2003). doi:10.1016/j.athoracsur.2003.09.007

References

External links Interview:Richard DeWall, The Bakken Library and Museum, Minneapolis, Minnesota (1998)

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Richard DeWall

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Richard DeWall claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Richard DeWall before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Richard DeWall ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Richard DeWall

In research: Richard DeWall appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Richard DeWall in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Richard DeWall is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1926 births, 2016 deaths, American transplant surgeons, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Richard DeWall outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Richard DeWall in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Richard DeWall means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Richard DeWall out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Richard DeWall in simple terms?

Why does Richard DeWall matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Richard DeWall?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Richard DeWall.