Vascular fluid dynamics and vascular biology and disease

My tribute to James Lighthill, one of the world's great mathematical scientists, is offered with admiration and sadness—he was both colleague and friend. I met James in 1964, through an introduction by Sir Geoffrey (G.I.) Taylor. He was then Royal Society Research Professor at Imperial College and I was a lecturer in medicine at St. Thomas's Hospital, with a particular interest in cardiovascular and respiratory mechanics. Within a short while we began to collaborate and about a year later James proposed to Imperial College that it should take the then almost unique step of setting up an activity in physiological flow. The Physiological Flow Studies Unit was started at the College in 1966—on an experimental basis with a staff of one (the writer). Looking back over a period of more than 30 years, I have three outstanding, interrelated impressions. First, that the field of physiological fluid dynamics has grown hugely worldwide, attesting in no small measure to James Lighthill's prescience and contributions. Second, that close collaboration between life scientists and doctors and engineers and physical scientists, has led to great advances in the understanding of normal and disturbed biology and of the relevant fluid dynamics. Third, that recognition that mechanical stresses play a key role in cellular and molecular biology, has given a tremendous boost to physiological mechanics. My aim in this note is to describe some earlier and current work on vascular fluid dynamics and vascular biology and disease and, where appropriate, to trace its descent from early studies undertaken with James. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.