Gravity and the Circulation

In 1628 William Harvey demonstrated that the cardiovascular system is a closed loop. In the same century Blaise Pascal described the effects of gravity on fluids. It's been almost 400 years since these pioneering scientists laid the foundation for an understanding of how our heart and blood vessels work in the real world, under normal conditions at the surface of the Earth. As we have ventured into space and accelerated our pilots and astronauts into new and more dangerous realms of G-forces, however, the lessons of Harvey and Pascal have been largely forgotten. This monograph restores their important insights and extends their discoveries into a new and complete model of the cardiovascular system that, for the first time, allows us to predict and to explain how our heart and blood vessels work in any position and under any G-force. Whether the question is how a giraffe maintains blood flow to its head, or how a fighter pilot remains conscious at 7g, this book provides the right physiological tools to answer the question.