Armstrong – Table of Contents

infected in Bethesda, Maryland. This upsetting sequence of fatalities from laboratory-
acquired infections dictated the need to provide full protection to the workers exposed to
hazardous infections. In response, Dr. Thomas Parran, Surgeon General of the USPHS,
approached Congress to obtain funds ($1,200,000) for a building especially designed to
protect persons engaged in research on infectious diseases. The Surgeon General (Dr.
Parran), Dr. R. E. Dyer, Director of the NIH, his assistant, Dr. L. F, Badger, Armstrong
and senior members of the Division of Infectious Diseases laboratory staff all contributed
ideas to the final plan of the building. In addition, Drs. Badger and Topping toured a
number of new laboratories in the United States seeking innovative ideas for adaptation
to the new building. Prior to the construction of The Memorial Laboratory, Drs. Norman
Topping and Charles Shepard (43) had improvised a protective cabinet for use in the
Rickettsial Unit, a refinement of which later became a standard feature in the new
building work units.