James
W. Brinkley
Class of 2001
Background:
James W. Brinkley received a Bachelor of Science degree in
industrial design from the Ohio State University in 1958 and
began his research and development career at Wright-Patterson
Air Force Base, Ohio. His overarching goal has been to prevent
injuries and fatalities. He has successfully pursued this
goal by defining the limitations of the human in hazardous
environments and by developing design criteria for protection
equipment.
Professional
Experience:
Mr. Brinkley's safety and health R&D career began when
he was assigned to address astronaut safety during emergency
escape and landing impact of the Project Mercury capsule.
The results of his experimental research established the first
impact limits for this system. His subsequent research became
the foundation for crew protection criteria for emergency
escape capsules, a crew cockpit escape module, and the escape
and landing impact systems for Projects Gemini and Apollo,
including the first manned lunar landing system. From 1965
to 1970, Mr. Brinkley developed and experimentally validated
human acceleration exposure-limit criteria for the ACES II
ejection seats used in most contemporary US Air force aircraft.
From 1970 to 1974, his pioneering research demonstrated the
safety of automobile passenger air bag restraint systems for
the Department of Transportation and established the basis
for the first production systems. His accomplishments from
1974 to 1988 include: development of an analytical method
to evaluate the risk of injury due to multi-axial impact,
development of a design and test standard that led to a major
reduction of spinal injuries from snowmobile accidents, development
of impact criteria for free-fall life boats, development of
design and test standards for personnel fall-protection equipment
and the development of numerous national and international
standards for personnel protection systems.
Career
Highlights:
In 1988, Mr. Brinkley was appointed to the Senior Executive
Service and was responsible for R&D programs including
biodynamics, bioacoustics, environmental noise effects, robotic
telepresence, and protective equipment. In 1997, he became
the director of the major Air Force Research Laboratory organization
responsible for R& D in areas including: personnel training;
biotechnology; decision aids; human factors engineering; personnel
protection; and biological effects of toxic agents, mechanical
stresses and electromagnetic energy.
Mr. Brinkley
has continued to make major contributions to the field of
safety and health. He personally developed a landing impact
exposure-limit model for crew emergency recovery systems for
the International Space Station. Through his leadership he
has also brought to fruition his vision of an emergency ejection
seat capable of providing safe escape from adverse fight attitudes
and airspeeds up to 700 knots equivalent airspeed.
Mr. Brinkley
is a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association, past President
of the International Society for Fall Protection, past President
and Honorary Life Member of the SAFE Association, and a Senior
Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
His honors include: the Eric Liljencrantz and the John Paul
Stapp Awards of the Aerospace Medical Association, the Air
Force Civilian Exceptional Service Medal, the SAFE Achievement
Award, the GEICO Public Service Award, an honorary doctorate
from the Russian State Institute of Research and Test, and
the Meritorious Senior Executive Award from the President
of the United States.
