Richards, Dickinson W.

Richards, Dickinson W. (Woodruff) (1895–1973) cardiologist; born in Orange, N.J. He was a research fellow in London, England (1927–28), then joined Columbia University (1928–61). There he collaborated with André Cournand (1936–41) to expand German physician Werner Forssmann's cardiac catheterization technique to investigate cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, for which Richards (with Cournand and Forssmann) won the 1956 Nobel Prize in physiology. In 1944 Richards and Cournand determined that whole blood is preferable for treatment of hemorrhagic shock. After World War II, Richards was a clinician at Bellevue Hospital, New York City (1945–61), where he studied the effects of the heart stimulant digitalis, and classified the progress of pulmonary insufficiency. He was an outspoken advocate of hospital modernization, health care for the elderly, and legalization of narcotics for addicts.