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2000
Dr. Thomas Hornbein (United States)
Dr. Thomas F. Hornbein, M.D. was born November 6, 1930 in St. Louis,
Missouri where, at a young age, he began his climbing career on neighboring trees and the
slate roof of his family home. Later as a geology major at the University of Colorado
(1948-52), he  began to pursue climbing more seriously. His experiences with mountain
rescue and teaching first aid prompted an interest in medicine and a change in career
course. He went back to St. Louis to attend the Washington University School of Medicine
(1952-56) with plans to return to the mountains as a family practitioner following
graduation. However, during medical school, his curiosity about how people adapted to high
altitude led to an interest in the physiology of breathing. Thus, after medical school and
an internship in Seattle, he returned once again to St. Louis for anesthesiology residency
training (1957-59) and two years as a NIH-supported research fellow in the laboratory of
Dr. Albert Roos (1959-61). Throughout his career, his research has focused on the stimuli
which prompt an animal to breathe; particularly carotid body and central chemosensors and
the related regulation of brain acid/base balance. These studies have yielded over 100
journal articles and book chapters, as well as many years of NIH funding. He has served on
numerous editorial boards and NIH committees.
Throughout his training, Dr. Hornbein continued his
mountaineering, including trips to Alaska and the Himalayas. It was not until after his
research fellowship and a two-year tour in the navy, however, that he and Willi Unsoeld,
in May of 1963, became the first climbers to ascend Mount Everest via the West Ridge as
part of the first American expedition to Everest. Through the years, Dr. Hornbein has
continued his climbing, including Masherbrum in 1960, Paiju and Masherbrum La (1974),
Ulugh Mustagh (1985), 23,000 foot Kangkarpo (1988, 1989), and Long's Peak in Colorado
(1995, 1996), in addition to daily ascents to his 14th floor office.
Dr. Hornbein has received many awards and given many
honorary talks throughout his distinguished career, including the Rovenstine lecture to
the American Society of Anesthesiologists in 1989.
Dr. Hornbein is currently Professor and Former Chairman of
the Anesthesiology Department at the University of Washington with a joint appointment in
the Department of Physiology and Biophysics.
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