Known today as a national center for Biomedical Engineering, the Wenner-Gren Research Laboratory at the University of Kentucky started as part of an expansion program in 1940 for the aircraft industry, to help bolster our national defense.

Through the generosity of Axel L. Wenner-Gren’s Viking Fund, the laboratory became a reality in 1941 when the original building was completed. Axel Wenner-Gren, a Swedish industrialist, was one of the richest men of his time. He owned the Electrolux Corporation, which was best known for Electrolux vacuum cleaners and the Servel absorption refrigerator.

Under the emergency conditions of World War Two, the Wenner-Gren Aeronautical Research Laboratory was established for the purpose of teaching, testing and researching aircraft engine technology. Under the leadership of Professor A.J. Meyer, the lab’s first director, Wenner-Gren Aeronautical Research Laboratory met its goals of providing the highest-quality training and research in aircraft engine technology.

Wenner-Gren staff worked with the US Army Air Corps at Wright Field, Ohio, to develop and teach a course to train aircraft engine specialists. The lab also did developmental work on the Mawen Rotary Engine, and on the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engine. The “Double Wasp� powered many of the best known US fighter, bomber, and cargo aircraft during World War II and the Korean War.

Suspicions that Axel Wenner-Gren held Nazi sympathies led the US State Department in 1944 to investigate the lab, Prof. Meyer and Colonel James H. Graham, Dean of UK’s College of Engineering. All were exonerated, but the Wenner-Gren name removed from the lab. It was restored in 1957.

After World War II, with jets taking prominence, focus shifted away from the internal combustion engine. Changing with the changing world, Wenner-Gren leadership used unique collaborations to continue their achievements, including parachute system development for the United States Air Force… seat belt testing for the Irving Air Chute Corporation of Lexington… and human vibration testing for Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton.

In 1959, the US Air Force awarded Wenner-Gren research lab a contract to train chimpanzees for the Mercury Space Flight program. This also marked the major shift of activity in the laboratory to predominantly biomedical engineering research.

In 1966, a NASA research program prompted another expansion of the laboratory, including a 50-foot-diameter centrifuge built for the investigation of gravity effects on earth organisms. As a result of these studies, the Wenner-Gren team launched, from Wallops Island, Virginia, the first series of suborbital rocket centrifuges used for producing a range of gravity levels below One G.

In the area of Biomedical Engineering, the lab’s accomplishments included the development of the artificial elbow… the Lange Skin fold Caliper… and, with the help of Dr W.K Massey, the Massey Sliding Hip Nail, widely used in the repair of hip fractures.

In the 1970s, the laboratory expanded its multidisciplinary actives in Biomedical Engineering research and education. These efforts resulted in the construction of a new addition to the laboratory that includes an animal Vivarium and surgical facility, as well as offices and laboratories. With these expansions and improvements, the University of Kentucky established the Wenner-Gren Laboratory as a graduate center for Biomedical Engineering. In January, 1988, the council on Higher Education approved the Center’s program to offer Masters as well as Ph.D. degrees.

Today, Wenner-Gren Lab’s biomedical research continues to advance on a variety of fronts… including discoveries on how to help humans prepare for and manage space travel’s effects on the body. On-going biomedical studies include musculo-skeletal tissue repair and replacement, diabetes research, and extensive investigation of cardio-vascular and blood pressure issues.

In the 1940s, Wenner-Gren Aeronautical Research Laboratory developed technologies that helped the Allies win the War; today, Wenner-Gren Research Laboratory is helping humans to conquer space… and to meet earth-bound challenges.