“The pO2 design, representing the partial pressure of oxygen, was selected as the emblem or lapel pin. It was considered unique and appropriate as the essential element common to all animal physiological functions. The President of the Section, who was the pin’s designer, pursued sponsors for production of several hundred of these unique pO2 pins that would be used as a lapel pin, tie tack or fashioned into a ring or charm. Through the efforts of Bob McLaughlin and M. R. “Jim” Kaletta, President of Scott Aviation, the pO2 pin was produced in sterling silver. The pO2 pins were presented with a membership card to all members attending the following general meeting in New Orleans, LA in 1978. The generous grant from Scott Aviation made sufficient sterling silver pO2 pins available for distribution to all members of the Aerospace Physiology Section for several years. The advent of certification in aerospace physiology again raised the question of recognition and identification. Thus, the pO2 pin turned to gold for those certified in aerospace physiology beginning in 1978 and remains today as a badge of achievement with an accompanying handsome and distinctive wall certificate.”
Excerpt from The History of the Aerospace Physiology Society—Part II
Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine • Vol. 75, No. 1• January 2004
By Donald C. Choisser, Colonel, USAF, BSC (Ret)
