David
C Poole said...
As a young Masters student in Kinesiology at
UCLA, when Professor Ged Gardner recommended that I take Professor Brian Whipp’s
graduate course in respiratory physiology, I couldn’t have imagined how it
would refocus my career and my life. In the medical school physiology class
Brian (Y Ddraig Goch) terrified the students en masse. His powerful, crisp and
erudite delivery sparkled with intensity and was spiced with medical anecdotes
and Shakespearean segues. But, alas, he demanded that they not only learn the
equations but how they were derived and how they really worked. Despite these
demands, day one of his graduate class was packed to overflowing with medical
and graduate students who soon learned that pretense of knowledge and bluff
would be exposed. He would make students stand in turn and dissect the limits
of their understanding. Once that was established the victim would sink
deflated and red-faced into their chair. For class two only graduate students
having to take the class remained. It was high-pressure all the way; one young
lady would call me the night before Thursday’s class and weep uncontrollably
into the phone. Next day it was apparent that she and others had enjoyed little
sleep the previous night. The quarter progressed and, in desperation to avoid
the regular logical drubbings, our knowledge grew exponentially. We had all
known teachers who delight in torturing students when they are safe in their
classroom but wouldn’t dream of trying such out of their environment. Several
weeks into the class, my first ACSM national meeting showed me that this was
how Brian prosecuted his science: attacking and riposting his scientific peers.
I recall a particularly scintillating debate with George Brooks over the
mechanistic bases of the “anaerobic threshold.” These were people passionately
concerned with their science and I was enthralled beyond all else. I realized
that Brian was truly World class and knew then that I wanted to be a scientist.
When the breath-by-breath gas exchange system (MedGraphics 2000), used to gather my Masters thesis project data with Dr. Glenn Gaesser, was moved to Professor Sue Ward’s laboratory in Anesthesiology, I went with it. Sue probably saw me just in a technical role as I knew the rather complex and finicky calibration routines. However, when she learned that I had taken Brian’s classes she seemed impressed. Subsequently, with Ged Gardner, Sue co-chaired my doctoral committee and Brian oversaw its theoretical development. On Fridays I would cycle the 27 miles down to Harbor-UCLA in Torrance to meet with Brian before seminar. Those were the toughest scientific meetings of my life. I would show a slide or present data and allude to mechanisms and Brian would fix me with those pale blue eyes and rapturous amused look. With penetrating logic he would remove all conjecture and woolly thinking from my thesis leaving only stark fact. In this I have never met Brian’s equal and I knew that if I could win his approval my thesis would stand any outside scrutiny. That, and the occasional adoption of a Whippian accent, gave me the confidence to take the scientific stage. Years later when I was awarded my Doctor of Science from Liverpool John Moores University the reason it meant so much to me was that Brian held that honour. My graduate students now endure as I did with Brian.
Last November, Brian and Sue hosted me for several marvelous days in Crickhowell. We walked the hills and vales met “rescued” donkeys and stopped in the local pubs for a drink and talked about the UCLA days, science and life. His range of knowledge and talents was truly extraordinary. To this day when faced with a seemingly intractable problem I often find myself asking “what would Brian do?” I know that I would never have become what I am without Brian - Doctor Mirabilis - and he will forever occupy a uniquely prominent place in my life and my science. This fiercely proud Welshman has set the highest of standards for generations of scientists to come.
David C Poole
When the breath-by-breath gas exchange system (MedGraphics 2000), used to gather my Masters thesis project data with Dr. Glenn Gaesser, was moved to Professor Sue Ward’s laboratory in Anesthesiology, I went with it. Sue probably saw me just in a technical role as I knew the rather complex and finicky calibration routines. However, when she learned that I had taken Brian’s classes she seemed impressed. Subsequently, with Ged Gardner, Sue co-chaired my doctoral committee and Brian oversaw its theoretical development. On Fridays I would cycle the 27 miles down to Harbor-UCLA in Torrance to meet with Brian before seminar. Those were the toughest scientific meetings of my life. I would show a slide or present data and allude to mechanisms and Brian would fix me with those pale blue eyes and rapturous amused look. With penetrating logic he would remove all conjecture and woolly thinking from my thesis leaving only stark fact. In this I have never met Brian’s equal and I knew that if I could win his approval my thesis would stand any outside scrutiny. That, and the occasional adoption of a Whippian accent, gave me the confidence to take the scientific stage. Years later when I was awarded my Doctor of Science from Liverpool John Moores University the reason it meant so much to me was that Brian held that honour. My graduate students now endure as I did with Brian.
Last November, Brian and Sue hosted me for several marvelous days in Crickhowell. We walked the hills and vales met “rescued” donkeys and stopped in the local pubs for a drink and talked about the UCLA days, science and life. His range of knowledge and talents was truly extraordinary. To this day when faced with a seemingly intractable problem I often find myself asking “what would Brian do?” I know that I would never have become what I am without Brian - Doctor Mirabilis - and he will forever occupy a uniquely prominent place in my life and my science. This fiercely proud Welshman has set the highest of standards for generations of scientists to come.
David C Poole
