Hail to the Chief
Following Charles Armstrong’s adaptation of poliomyelitis to the cotton rat and
white mouse in 1939, he made no further major scientific discoveries; nevertheless, he
maintained an active involvement in his ongoing laboratory investigations. The period
from about 1940 until the gradual discontinuation of his laboratory activities in the early
1950s was punctuated with awards that recognized his many significant contributions. In
1941, he received the Sedgwick Medal of the American Public Health Association (1 A,
B), and in 1944, he was one of the first NIH scientists elected as a Member of the
National Academy of Sciences (2). In December 1942, he advanced to the commissioned
rank of Medical Director in the United States Public Health Service (equivalent to U. S.
Army Colonel or U.S. Navy Captain), and he was also appointed Chief of the Division of
Infectious Diseases (later renamed Laboratory) earlier the same year. He served in that
position until November 1948. In 1947, he presided over the move of the Laboratory
(Division) from NIH Building No. 5 to the new state-of the-art “biosafe” Building No. 7,
“The Memorial Laboratory.” He administered the Laboratory efficiently and frugally
during the World War II years and beyond. He collaborated with and gave advice freely
to younger members of the laboratory who were at the beginning of their careers. He
maintained collegial relationships with medical practitioners in the Washington, D. C.
area and served as a helpful resource to some who had encountered puzzling infectious
disease problems. His legal retirement was in 1950 but he was allowed to keep a small
laboratory suite, and he continued coming into the laboratory for several more years. His