Charles Wesley Shilling Capt . Charles Wesley Shilling USN ( ret . ) ( September 21 , 1901 – December 23 , 1994 ) was an American physician who was known as a leader in the field of undersea and hyperbaric medicine , research , and education . Shilling was widely recognized as an expert on deep sea diving , naval medicine , radiation biology , and submarine capabilities . In 1939 , he was Senior Medical Officer in the rescue of the submarine U . S . S . " Squalus " . Background . Charles Wesley Shilling was born September 21 , 1901 in Indiana on the campus of Taylor University where his father was President . Shilling later went on to receive a Bachelor of Science from Taylor University along with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan in 1923 . After completion of his medical training at the University of Michigan , Shilling completed an internship at the Chelsea Naval Hospital . In 1932 , the Navy sent Shilling to the Harvard School of Public Health where he was joined by Albert R . Behnke . In 1954 , Shilling received an honorary Doctorate of Science from Taylor University . Naval career . After joining the Navy in 1927 , Shilling was sent to the Naval Submarine Base in New London , Connecticut where he was involved in the selection and training of submarine crew . Other work included research and development of Submarine Escape Immersion Equipment aboard the USS " S - 4 " . Shilling was transferred to the submarine base in the Panama Canal Zone where he spent two years serving as medical officer aboard submarines as they traversed the canal . This work also included treating the medical problems associated with salvage diving operations . From Panama , Shilling was transferred to the Navy Diving School in Washington , DC where he learned to dive and began diving research at the Navy Experimental Diving Unit . Shilling researched the topics of nitrogen narcosis , oxygen toxicity , and decompression table development including important research on surface decompression . In the late 1930s , Shilling was transferred back to the New London Submarine Base where he focused on hearing and vision for submariners . His work involved the development of the methods and tools needed for selection of sound listening and lookout duty . In 1939 , a failed request for a $ 78 . 00 audiometer resulted in receiving $ 3 , 000 . 00 . This small amount was spent to begin the first medical research laboratory dedicated to submarine research . This laboratory grew to become the Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory ( NSMRL ) . In 1939 , Shilling was the Senior Medical Officer in the rescue of personnel from the submarine USS " Squalus " . Divers from the submarine rescue ship , under the direction of the salvage and rescue expert Charles Momsen , employed the new Rescue Chamber he had invented years earlier but which the US Navy command had repeatedly blocked . Earlier in development of the bell , they demonstrated that a bell could attach to a submarine torpedo room hatch but the submarine crew had not decided who should transfer to the surface in the bell . One of the crew stated , within Shilling ' s hearing , " Take the Doc . He ' s the most useless piece of furniture we ' ve got " . Shilling then became the first person to go from a submarine to the surface in a bell . Utilizing these techniques , they were able to rescue all 33 surviving crew members from the sunken submarine including future Rear Admiral Oliver F . Naquin . Shilling later recalled that the untested submarine rescue procedures utilized with the " Squalus " incident " worked like a charm " . Later , the salvage divers used recently developed heliox diving schedules and successfully avoided the cognitive impairment symptoms associated with such deep dives , thereby confirming Behnke ' s theory of nitrogen narcosis . In 1947 , Shilling left NSMRL for a position in the Office of Naval Research ( ONR ) . Four years of this post were spent directing medical , biological , and psychological studies and ended with two years as the director of the Research Division , Bureau of Medicine and Surgery as well as the special assistant for the BioSciences . During his time at ONR , he established the Committee on Hearing and the Committee on Vision for the Armed Services National Research Council . Shilling ' s naval career ended with a post at the United States Naval Academy where he served as the Senior Medical Officer , Command Medical Officer for the Severn River Naval Command , and the head of the Department of Hygiene at ONR . Civilian career . Upon retirement from the Navy , Shilling served as deputy director , Division of Biology and Medicine at the United States Atomic Energy Commission from 1955 to 1960 . Here he managed multimillion dollar research programs . In October 1961 , Shilling was appointed to head the Biology Science Communications Project that was located at the American Institute of Biological Sciences and later moved to George Washington University . This project was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation to study " all phases of the communications problems as they relate to the biological sciences and scientists " . A major focus of this project was indexing and abstracting the world serial publications and ensuring their availability in the United States . One important achievement was the organization of the Council of Biological Editors whose style guide provides guidelines for publications in the biological sciences . By 1973 , the Undersea Medical Society ( UMS ) , now the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society , had grown to the point of needing an office and hired Shilling as the first Executive secretary . Here , Shilling applied his knowledge in diving medicine and biological communications to establish the UMS scientific journal , " Undersea Biomedical Research " . The journal continued under the name " Undersea Biomedical Research " until 1993 when it was changed to " Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Journal " . Shilling ' s experience with hyperbaric oxygen ( HBO ) in the treatment of decompression sickness allowed him to connect the diving community with the growing clinical HBO community . In 1975 , Shilling gathered 50 experts in HBO therapy for a workshop conceived by Dr . Behnke . The workshop was chaired by Dr . Jefferson Davis and the group eventually published the definitive text " Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy " . The UMS also created a committee to periodically review the scientific evidence supporting the use of HBO and the first " Hyperbaric Oxygen Committee Report " was published in 1977 . Shilling served as Executive secretary until his retirement in 1987 . Following his retirement from the UHMS , Shilling took a two year post as Distinguished scientist at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology . Charles W . Shilling Library . The Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society ' s library was started by the efforts of Dr . Shilling . The UHMS Charles W . Shilling Library is the largest repository of diving and hyperbaric research and clinical information – current and historical – in the world . The library is located at the Duke University Medical Center ( DUMC ) Library in Durham , NC . The collection consists of books , journals , reports , workshop s , symposia , conference proceedings , and annotated bibliographies spanning the fields of diving , hyperbaric , and marine medicine . There is a small journal and newsletter collection dealing with diving safety and diving medicine . The library has extensive reprint files of articles , cataloged by author , related to diving and hyperbaric medicine and dating back to the 1930s . Many of the UHMS publications have been scanned and are available online at the Rubicon Research Repository . Other articles can be found in the DUMC Archive finding aid s . Shilling ' s portrait , painted by Daniel Thompson of the Corcoran Gallery and School of Art , was dedicated October 23 , 1994 . It currently resides on the second floor of the DUMC Library . Memberships and awards . Shilling was a member of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine , the American Physiological Society , the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States , the Aerospace Medical Association , the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , and Sigma Xi . Shilling received the Founders Medal from the Association of Military Surgeons for work in diving medicine ( 1953 ) ; the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Michigan ( 1959 ) ; the Golden Cross of the Order of the Phoenix from the Greek Government for creating a method of radiation sterilization of a fly , a technique which helped save the Greek olive crop ( 1960 ) ; Alumnus of the Year from Taylor University ( 1960 ) ; the Albert Behnke Award from the UHMS ( 1975 ) ; the New Orleans Grand Isle ( NOGI ) Award from the Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences ( 1979 ) ; the Chamber of Achievement Award from Taylor University ( 1980 ) ; the Florida Underwater Council Service Award ( 1980 ) ; the Smithsonian Science Information Exchange Award ( 1980 ) ; the Schiffahrtmedizinsches Institut Der Marine Award ( 1980 ) ; and in 1982 , the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society established the C . W . Shilling Award in his honor , Shilling was also the first recipient . He was a member of the Cosmos Club , where he and his wife used to like to take friends to dinner . Death . Shilling died on December 23 , 1994 in Fredericksburg , Virginia . He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery with his wife Miriam .