Skalak Memorial Lecture:On the Development of Biomedical Engineering and/or Bioengineering in the U.S.: A Historical Perspective with Emphasis on the Role of Columbia University and UC San Diego

While the emphasis for biomedical engineering and/or bioengineering at Columbia University and UCSD are relatively new, studies on properties of such "biological" materials and events as bone, blood flow, articular cartilage date back to Galileo (1632), Harvey (1670) and Borelli (1680), Benninghoff (1900), respectively.   Indeed, the word biology did not appear in the learned literature until the late 19th century. Galileo laid the foundation of mechanics in his book on the Two New Sciences in the last decade of his life while under house arrest in Pope Urban VIII's apartment in Rome.  In this book the seeds of strength of material and kinematics were sown, later to be formulated by Isaac Newton after Galileo's death which occurred in 1642, which is the same year Newton was born.  Today, here is no doubt of the singularly influential role played by Professor Y.C. Fung of UCSD in the development of the bioengineering discipline in America.  Also, the important roles played by Professor Richard Skalak (the namesake for this memorial lecture series), and Professor Shu Chien, both were formerly Columbia University professors, in enhancing the UCSD bioengineering program nationally and internationally.  Professor Fung, in a stroke of genius, was able to recruit Skalak and Chien to relocate from Columbia to UCSD in 1988; this event, and the Whitaker Foundation, forever changed the landscape of bioengineering in America.  Today, UCSD's graduate research program is without doubt one of the most recognized bioengineering research program in the world. In this lecture, I will present this short history, as well as my own role in establishing one of the best biomedical engineering departments in the world at Columbia.