[1][4][5] White studied the biological effects of inhaling small fission particles produced by nuclear tests in a related field.
He also examined, with "remarkable prescience,"[1] the environmental impact of consumer aerosol products on the atmosphere and the health risks of inhaling man-made fibers, diesel exhaust, and other substances.
His research in aviation medicine contributed significantly to the exhaustive physiological and psychological tests conducted in 1959 on the thirty-two candidates competing to become the Mercury Seven astronauts, as depicted in the book and film The Right Stuff.
[2][8][6] He was president of the student body, played basketball, earned all-conference honors as a football end, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1934.
[9] White captained the Oxford lacrosse team and, in 1938, earned a doctoral degree in physiology before returning to the University of Colorado to start medical school.
He stressed work across scientific disciplines throughout his career, stating he was "more and more concerned that we in this country and the world have moved way too far in the direction of specialties and not far enough in developing generalists and integrative endeavors.
"[10] Soon after the symposium, White, a "leader in aviation medicine before the term 'aerospace' was invented"[2] began to consult with aircraft manufacturers and the developing airline industry.
[13] White fought to include female flight attendants – then called "hostesses" – in the Lovelace annual physical program and convinced TWA Airlines to fund it.
[10] Many of the legendary test pilots at Edwards Air Force Base in California, such as Scott Crossfield and Chuck Yeager, routinely visited Lovelace for medical consultation.
[5][13]In 1958, White and Randy Lovelace assembled the medical team that designed and conducted the exhaustive battery of tests on the thirty-two candidates competing to become Mercury astronauts.
In 1951, the Lovelace Foundation received its first major contract from the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), and White launched the work for which he is best known, the field of "blast and shock biology."
In Nevada, White measured the effectiveness of bomb shelters, often using models and dummies he constructed in a small tool shop in his Albuquerque home garage.
The computer appears in Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, when Peter Sellers, playing the president's demented scientific adviser, pulls the circular device from his jacket pocket to calculate how long people might need to remain in underground bunkers after a nuclear attack.
"[20][13][2][1] White's other areas of study included aging, memory loss, hypothermia, cosmic rays, drought, pollution of the upper atmosphere, sun damage, health risks of smoking, and the impact of stress on the autonomic nervous system.
In addition to authoring more than 125 scientific and technical articles, some of which remain classified, he wrote two books: Physics and Medicine of the Upper Atmosphere (1952) and Blast Biology (1960).
They had three children: daughters Sharon and Meredith, and son Tracy, who grew up in a household where even making popcorn turned into a lesson on the thermodynamics inside a saucepan.
"[1] In 1977, on the centennial celebration of the founding of the University of Colorado, Byron, and Sam White received Alumnus of the Century awards in law and medicine, respectively.