3 ms·

I don't know any specific examples, but I wonder how much of our knowledge today came from people working under these conditions. It's terrible, but do we now r

I don't know any specific examples, but I wonder how much of our knowledge today came from people working under these conditions. It's terrible, but do we now retain knowledge learned from people experimenting on humans under Hitler, for example? How many warfare techniques were developed by kings or other absolute leaders asking engineers to build novel weapons with no constraints?

sacheendra 9y ago
Yes we did. A lot of textbooks on human anatomy are from that time. There is even an ethical issues section on the wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_human_experimentation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_human_experimentation
- tptacek 9y ago
  I'm not sure that you've provided evidence for the extraordinary claim that textbooks on human anatomy are based on Nazi experiments.
  - sacheendra 9y ago
    True. I was grossly exaggerating. I was thinking of Pernkopf's anatomy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Pernkopf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Pernkopf) when i was making the comment. It is not true to say textbooks are based on his work. But apparently his work is used in books. The argument is that it we use results and data from nazi experiments.
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mikestew 9y ago
Thanks to the Nazis, I know my maximum time to survive in freezing water is about eight minutes. That can't be the only example.
- munin 9y ago
  The accuracy of those studies has been questioned and the ethics of using that data, independent of their accuracy, debated, extensively.
- gruturo 9y ago
  When I got my scuba certification, my instructor told me very clearly how the data for the recommended decompression curves got collected.
- nradov 9y ago
  That's really not correct. http://gcaptain.com/cold_water/ http://gcaptain.com/cold_water/
  - eru 9y ago
    Interesting find! I also did some recreational ice swimming (and read much more about other maniacs who do it regularly): so I can totally see how hypothermia does not kick in as quickly as people think it would.
eru 9y ago
Most of those 'experiments' were rubbish from a scientific point of view: they were mostly sadistic torture. Eg the things Mengele did. Yes, there is certain knowledge we could gain by ethically unconstrained experimenting. But the Nazis did not gain much of that. On a more positive note, religious preferences sometimes gives us willing subjects. Eg the Jehova's Witnesses don't like blood transfusions but do agree with surgery. So surgeon get to come up and practice blood-transfusion-less procedures. (No ethics committee would let you get away with trying these out otherwise when they are still in the alpha phase.)
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]

sacheendra 9y ago

Yes we did. A lot of textbooks on human anatomy are from that time. There is even an ethical issues section on the wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_human_experimentation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_human_experimentation

tptacek 9y ago
I'm not sure that you've provided evidence for the extraordinary claim that textbooks on human anatomy are based on Nazi experiments.
- sacheendra 9y ago
  True. I was grossly exaggerating. I was thinking of Pernkopf's anatomy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Pernkopf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Pernkopf) when i was making the comment. It is not true to say textbooks are based on his work. But apparently his work is used in books. The argument is that it we use results and data from nazi experiments.

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mikestew 9y ago

Thanks to the Nazis, I know my maximum time to survive in freezing water is about eight minutes. That can't be the only example.

munin 9y ago
The accuracy of those studies has been questioned and the ethics of using that data, independent of their accuracy, debated, extensively.
gruturo 9y ago
When I got my scuba certification, my instructor told me very clearly how the data for the recommended decompression curves got collected.
nradov 9y ago
That's really not correct. http://gcaptain.com/cold_water/ http://gcaptain.com/cold_water/
- eru 9y ago
  Interesting find! I also did some recreational ice swimming (and read much more about other maniacs who do it regularly): so I can totally see how hypothermia does not kick in as quickly as people think it would.

eru 9y ago

Most of those 'experiments' were rubbish from a scientific point of view: they were mostly sadistic torture. Eg the things Mengele did. Yes, there is certain knowledge we could gain by ethically unconstrained experimenting. But the Nazis did not gain much of that. On a more positive note, religious preferences sometimes gives us willing subjects. Eg the Jehova's Witnesses don't like blood transfusions but do agree with surgery. So surgeon get to come up and practice blood-transfusion-less procedures. (No ethics committee would let you get away with trying these out otherwise when they are still in the alpha phase.)

deleted 9y ago
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