Reg Whitney conducted outstanding research in biomechanics and human physiology and was a distinguished inventor. With a zoology doctorate from the University of Birmingham, he conducted Army operational research from 1941, initially into the problems facing tank-operators. Subsequently he studied posture and motion during extreme human activities as senior scientific officer with the War Office. Working at the MRC Climate and Working Efficiency Unit (Oxford) from 1948, he developed the Whitney strain gauge plethysmograph for quantifying human peripheral blood flow and, later, a force analysis platform for investigating physiological aspects of whole body activities. In 1958, he moved to the MRC Institute for Medical Research at Hampstead. There he continued to analyse human posture and motion. Among other projects, he embarked on construction of a simulator to permit investigation by the Navy of the effects of ship motion on human performance. After 1974, he continued this work at the RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine, Farnborough, retiring from the MRC in 1980.

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