Dr. Sam White, 91; designed medical tests for astronauts

ALBUQUERQUE -- Dr. Sam White, a pioneer in biomedical research who helped design medical tests for the first American astronauts, died Monday of respiratory complications. He was 91.

Dr. White organized a team approach to examining and testing the astronauts at Lovelace Medical Center, said Dr. Don Kilgore, who worked with Dr. White for 30 years.

During his more than 30 years at Lovelace, Dr. White researched aging, memory loss, hypothermia, cosmic rays, geology, and pollution of the upper atmosphere.

He also was known for making instruments to treat patients or to conduct experiments, his daughter, Meredith, said.

The Smithsonian Institution asked Dr. White to borrow the slide-rulelike device he designed to calculate the shock wave of the first atom bomb for an exhibit on the 50th anniversary of the bomb.

His brother was late US Supreme Court Justice Byron White.