IEEE History Center: Albert “Les” Babb Abstract

Albert “Les” Babb’s oral history is a fascinating life story of an engineer who crossed many disciplines of science and technology throughout his career. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1925, Babb’s father pushed him towards a career as a medical doctor, but Babb was drawn to chemical engineering. After graduating from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champagne, he worked for Rayonier, Inc., but he was eventually drawn into an academic position with the University of Washington. Through his academic career, Babb was able to work in chemical engineering, but also in nuclear engineering (he was a cornerstone in the University’s fledgling nuclear engineering department). Eventually, he was drawn into biochemical engineering for medical advancements, a veritable full-circle back to his father’s original designs for him.

Although he has many engineering innovations to his credit,Albert “Les” Babb’s biochemical work on kidney dialysis machine advancement, sickle cell anemia, and pulmonary medicine research, have proved to be his greatest legacies. His gravitation towards the medical benefits of engineering innovations is facilitated by his sincere interest in the human side of technological advances and his goal to improve patient’s lives.

1-7	Introduction; background; career; how he came to chemistry and engineering
8-9	Joining Rayonier, Inc., after graduating; personal interest in hi-fi
10-11	Personal life; joining the University of Washington
12-14	Learning nuclear engineering; developing the nuclear engineering department at the University of Washington
15-16	Designing the new reactor building and labs; novel uses of the nuclear reactor (cystic fibrosis screening)
17-20	His work on hemodialysis and his move into biochemical engineering
21-23	Engineering a better dialysis process; multi-patient dialysis systems; “the monster”
24	The human side of dialysis—making it more cost-feasible
25-26	“Bootleg development”; allowing for failure
27	Patenting the device; unattended overnight dialysis
28-29	The single patient machine trend in dialysis; the 1997 landmark article; understanding the impact on patients
30	Engineering innovations in dialysis machines: the short, many-channel, hollow fiber dialyzer
31-34	The connection with sickle cell work; biochemical engineering experiments
35-36	The failure of the sickle cell treatments; technology transfer in medical treatments; how Babb became involved in pulmonary research medicine; his retirement; the citation classic, “The Genesis of the Square Meter Hour”