Max Crookshanks

Mrs. Engledow
Science 8
December 2 2015

Guinea Pig Scientists

By: Max Crookshanks

A guinea pig scientist is a scientist that tests their medicine, test, ect. On themselves, for
example: Marie curie was a guinea pig scientist because she tested the radioactive was of
radium on her bare hands. John Stapp made himself a guinea pig scientist by testing the human
body vs. extreme speed and stopping G forces. Also, William Morton and Horace Wells tested
their pain killing laughing gas on themselves when needing to pull an aching tooth. Some
people say guinea pig scientists do it because then they can experience of their medicine
themselves and the facts will be much more precise than on another human, others say it's
because they are crazy, but no one will ever know the real reason they do it.

John Stapp was a man that tested the limits of the human body against extreme speeds
and extreme forces when decelerating. John grew up with his family in Bahia, Brazil. He was
born in 1910 and his closest friend was his black servant, he grew up learning to never give up
and he was a very resourceful child. He got a phd in biophysics and an MD at the university of
Minnesota. His guinea pig tests were, he got in a rocket sled and tested the limits of the human
body, his first speed was less than 100 mph and was less than 5 g deceleration. His second test
was 180 mph and had 10 g decel. He later proved that the human body could withstand much
more than what other scientists thought, scientists thought that 18 g decel was the most that a

human could go, but Stapp proved that you could get over 35 g decel, nearly double the
assumed amount.

We now know that human bodies can withstand over 35 g decel rates through stapps
tests, and that a bumper in the 1950s and 60s was basically useless, making it too easily
crushable, we also found out that an astronaut can withstand a fall 92 mph drop onto soil that is
of average hardness, and we found out that sitting backwards can help you withstand gs much
easier. Finally, we found out the importance of car safety, like buckling up, and that car seats
tore out too easily.

I think, in Stapps case, self experimentation wasn't a bad idea, because it was just
testing the limits of the human body, without touching anything harmful. Conversely, I do not
think self experimentation for Marie curie was a good idea, she could have wore gloves to block
the radiation of pitchblende and radium, she warned others to wear gloves, but she didn't wear
gloves, which was a bad idea because being exposed to all the radiation was what killed her in
the end. So my opinion is that self experimentation is a good idea, depending on the
experiment, something like inhaling laughing gas like William Morton and Horace Wells is
harmless, it numbs pain, not causes. But handling radium and pitchblende with your bare hands
even though you could have wore gloves is a bad idea. That is why I think guinea pig testing is
ok to some extent.