Bob Hales – a commemoration. By Clark M. Blatteis

It has been a year since our dear friend and colleague, J. R. S. (Bob) Hales, left us after fighting valiantly, but sadly in vain, against a dreadful form of cancer of the liver. He was an exceptionally fine “mate”, to use the Aussie term, an outstanding and dedicated scientist, highly productive over the years and always cheerful and forward-looking. He had a manner that was ever so winning and charming, and a wonderful Australian accent. I don’t remember anymore exactly when and where we met for the first time, but it was long ago. It probably was during one of our regular international thermophysiology conferences somewhere. We hit it off right away and developed a solid friendship that lasted even though we met only in person on the occasion of such meetings.

In the 80s, I was working on the issue of why gravid females at term of their pregnancy could not develop fever. Their offspring, it was already established, could not for some days after their birth, and Keith Cooper and his colleagues in Calgary had reported that parturient ewes could not either; but it was not known why not. I conjectured that one cause could be related to the redistribution of the cardiac output near and at term away from internal sources of nonshivering thermogenesis, e.g., the liver, to the placenta, thereby reducing the ability of the mother to generate the necessary energy to support a rise in core temperature. The development of fever, I guessed, was secondary to giving a live birth. Indeed, we already had gotten some indirect evidence in favor of this viewpoint from rabbits, but not the direct evidence from a detailed analysis of the blood flow distribution at term. Bob, by that time, was a recognized crackerjack at measuring this distribution in sheep.

I was fortunate enough to convince Bob of the merits of my idea and he very kindly arranged for me to get a CSIRO Fellowship in order to come to his lab in Prescott, New South Wales, on the outskirts of Sydney, to conduct such a study. I joined him right after the International Symposium on Thermophysiology in Marcoola, Queensland in August 1983 and stayed for two and a half wonderful months. We were soon joined by Reinhold Necker from Bochum, Germany, and K. Hirata from Kanazawa, Japan, and along with Bob’s long-time lab assistant, Alan Fawcett, worked together on this project and, indeed, on two more. My hunch was correct as to the redistribution of the cardiac output, but, in conflict with Cooper’s Canadian ewes, our Australian ewes did develop fever! I refer you to the published papers for all the details. Suffice it to say that the time I spent in Prospect with Bob was an absolute delight and it helped to cement our friendship even tighter.

I also fondly remember subsequent, happy reunions including our wives here in Memphis, in Santa Fe, and elsewhere around the globe. But I cherish especially our last get-together in Australia three years ago. Since my wife was not able to accompany me in 1983 (our kids were still at home), we traveled together then and that visit was especially nice and memorable. Bob and Judy treated me and Yolanda like royalty. They hosted us in their home, they entertained us, guided us to all the important sights, and altogether showed us an absolutely wonderful time. Indeed, we left there eager to visit them again soon!

So the memories I have of my dear friend and our colleague Bob Hales are all joyous and special. I am quite sure that my feelings are equally shared by our colleagues in thermophysiology for Bob was a friend to all and liked by all. We all cherish his memory and miss him very much.

August 31, 2010