Personal Name: Clayton Samuel “Sam” White, M.D.,
Personal Dates: 1912-2004
Interviewed by: Jake Spidle, Ph.D.
Recorded Date: 1985
Call Number: FL 897
Oral History Title: Interview with Clayton S. "Sam" White,
M.D.
Physical Description: 7 sound cassettes (565 mins.) + 1
transcript (99 pages)
Biographical Sketch:
Clayton Samuel White, known as Sam, was born in Fort Collins,
Colorado on October 11, 1912. He graduated from the University of
Colorado in 1934 with a degree in psychology and minors in
mathematics and physics. Having won a Rhodes Scholarship in 1935, he
earned a baccalaureate in physiology at Oxford and received a year
and a half of credit at medical school at the University of
Colorado. After graduating with a medical degree in 1942, Dr. White
joined the navy, where he did medical research. While in the navy,
Dr. White collaborated with Dr. William Randolph Lovelace II, on
several projects, including oxygen masks. In 1947, Dr. Lovelace
recruited Dr. White to be director of research at Lovelace Clinic in
Albuquerque, New Mexico. With a substantial contract from the Atomic
Energy Commission to study the blast and shock effects of big
explosions, Dr. White developed mathematical formulas to explain why
one building might be leveled and the one next to it, remain
standing. When Dr. Lovelace was killed in a plane crash in 1965, Dr.
White became director of the Lovelace Foundation. Through the years
Dr. White worked on problems of aging, memory loss, hypothermia,
cosmic rays, geology and pollution of the upper atmosphere. From
1974 to 1979, he was the president of the Oklahoma Medical Research
Foundation. Dr. White died on April 26, 2004 at Lovelace Medical
Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Scope and content:
This interview with Dr. Clayton S. "Sam" White (1912-2004) of
Albuquerque, New Mexico, surveys his life and distinguished career.
A medical scientist/physician/ administrator, Dr. White was born and
educated in Colorado (University of Colorado, Boulder and UC School
of Medicine, Denver) and spent two years as a Rhodes Scholar at
Oxford. After military service in the Navy, he came to Albuquerque
in 1947 at the creation of the Lovelace Medical Foundation to launch
and help lead its research programs. From that 1947 arrival until
1974, he was continuously engaged in development and leadership of
the Foundation. Among the subjects discussed in this interview are
Dr. White's personal and professional backgrounds; the evolution of
his medical research training and interests; the foundation and
early years of the research and education programs of the Lovelace
Medical Foundation; the individuals centrally involved in the
Lovelace institutions; relationships between the Foundation and
Clinic and outside agencies, such as the Atomic Energy Commission,
the Air Force, Sandia Corporation, the airline industry, and others;
the physical expansion of the Lovelace Medical Foundation; and many
others.
Location: Bernalillo County
Occupation: Physician, Medical
Link to Library Catalog:
http://hestia.unm.edu/search/a?SEARCH=white+clayton
Full text transcript: PDF(2):
PDF1,
PDF2