The Fastest Man on earth

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You are going to read an article about the life of John Paul Stapp. For questions 1-7, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.

JOHN PAUL STAPP:

THE FASTEST MAN ON EARTH

Captain John Paul Stapp, already a medical doctor, began his scientific career in the 1940s studying the negative effects of high altitude flight, issues absolutely critical to the future of aviation. How could men survive these conditions? The problem of the bends, the deadly formation of bubbles in the bloodstream, proved the toughest, but after 65 hours in the air, Stapp found an answer. If a pilot breathed pure oxygen for thirty minutes prior to take-off, symptoms could be avoided entirely. This was an enormous breakthrough. The sky now truly was the limit. The discovery pushed Stapp to the forefront of the Aero Med Lab and he abandoned his plans to become a pediatrician, instead deciding to dedicate his life to research. The Lab's mandate, to study medical and safety issues in aviation, was a perfect match for his talents. It was the premiere facility in the world for the new science of biomechanics.

Stapp was assigned the Lab's most important research project: human deceleration. This was the study of the human body's ability to withstand G forces, the force of gravity, when bailing out of an aircraft. In April 1947, Stapp traveled to Los Angeles to view the 'human decelerator', a rocket sled designed to run along a special track and then come to a halt with the aid of 45 sets of normal hydraulic brakes, which slowed it from 150 miles per hour to half of that speed in one fifth of a second. When it did, G forces would be produced equivalent to those experienced in an airplane crash. The sled was called the 'Gee Whiz'. Built out of welded tubes, it was designed to withstand 100 Gs of force, was beyond the 18 Gs that accepted theory of the time thought survivable. Early tests were conducted using a dummy called Oscar Eightball, but Stapp soon insisted that conditions were right to use himself as a human guinea pig.

Exercising a modicum of caution on the first ride in December 1947, Stapp used only one rocket. The Gee Whiz barely reached 90 miles an hour, and the deceleration was only about 10 Gs. So Stapp began to increase the number of rockets, and by August 1948, he had completed sixteen runs, surviving not just 18 Gs but a bone-jarring 35 Gs. Beaten, bruised and battered though he was by the tests, Stapp was reluctant to allow anyone else to ride the Gee Whiz. He feared that if certain people, especially test pilots, were used, their hot-headedness might produce a disaster. Volunteers made some runs, but whenever a new approach was developed, Stapp was his own one and only choice as test subject. There was one obvious benefit: Stapp could write extremely accurate physiological and psychological reports concerning the effects of his experiments.

Yet while the Gee Whiz allowed Stapp to answer the existing deceleration questions, new ones emerged. What could be done to help pilots ejecting from supersonic aircraft to survive? Stapp set out to find the answer on a new sled called Sonic Wind No. 1, which could travel at upwards of 750 miles per hour, and withstand an astonishing 150 Gs. In January 1954, Stapp embarked on a series of runs leading to his 29^th and final ride, which took him to above the speed of sound, protected only by a helmet and visor. And when the sled stopped, which it did in a mere 1.4 seconds, Stapp was subjected to more Gs than anyone had ever willingly endured. He wasn't just out to prove that people could survive a high speed ejection, he was trying to find the actual limit of human survivability to G force. As Stapp's friend, pilot Joe Kittinger put it: 'It was a point of departure – a new biological limit he was going to be establishing on that return'.

Stapp's life was never the same after that successful run on 10 December 1954. Dubbed 'The Fastest Man on Earth' by the media, his celebrity rose to dazzling heights. Stapp graced the pages of magazines, and became the subject of a Hollywood movie. If the attention was a bit much for the soft spoken Lt. Colonel Stapp, it nevertheless provided him with an opportunity he had longed for – to promote the cause of automobile safety.

For even in the earliest days of the Gee Whiz tests, Stapp had realized that his research was just as applicable to cars as it was to airplanes. At every opportunity, Stapp urged the car industry to examine his crash data, and design their cars with safety in mind. He lobbied hard for the installation of seat belts and improvements such as soft dashboards, collapsing steering wheels, and shock absorbing bumpers. 'I'm leading a crusade for the prevention of needless deaths, ' he told Time magazine in 1955.

Stapp's work in aeronautics and automobiles continued right up until his death in 1999 at age 89. He had received numerous awards and honors. But the best was the knowledge that his work had helped to save many lives, not just in aviation, but on highways around the world.

1. What does the writer mean when he says 'The sky now truly was the limit'

A Stapp had set an unassailable scientific record.

B All previous restrictions on flight had been removed.

C Pilots could now be trained to fly at greater altitude.

D A new design was needed for high-altitude planes.

1. What assessment of Stapp's skills does the writer make in the first paragraph?

A His scientific skills were superior to those of his contemporaries.

B He was able to solve scientific problems at great speed.

C He was able to prove a theory set out by others.

D He was ideally qualified for employment at Aero Mad Lab.

1. What was surprising about the construction of Gee Whiz?

A It incorporated a revolutionary new kind of brakes.

B It was initially designed to function without a passenger.

C It could withstand exceptionally high G forces.

D It was not built of conventional materials.

1. Why did Stapp usually insist on doing test runs on Gee Whiz himself?

A He felt his powers of observation were superior to those of other people.

B He was aware that some people were psychologically unsuited to the tests.

C He had little faith in the overall safety of the equipment.

D He thought it was unethical to recruit people for a dangerous task.

1. What was the significance of the experiments on SonicWind No. 1?

A They broke all previous speed records.

B They gradually improved deceleration times.

C They set new limits to human potential.

D They proved that people could survive high speeds.

1. How did Stapp respond to becoming a celebrity?

A He avoided appearing in public if he could.

B He was embarrassed by the extent of his fame.

C He responded gracefully to the demands of fame.

D He made use of his fame to achieve a goal.

1. In this text, the writer implies that Stapp's main motivation was

A a desire to minimise loss of life.

B a spirit of adventure.

C a quest for knowledge.

D a wish to be remembered after his death.

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