Template:Short description Template:Infobox person
Lawrence Patrick (1920 – April 30, 2006<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>) may well be considered one of the fathers of the crash test dummy. Between 1960 and 1975, while a biomechanics professor at Detroit's Wayne State University, Patrick described his work by saying "I was a human crash-test dummy".<ref>Mary Roach (November 19, 1999), I was a human crash-test dummy Template:Webarchive. Salon.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-29.</ref> Patrick allowed himself to be subject to over 400 rocket sled rides,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> crushing blows to the head and body, and other forms of physical abuse in an effort to develop a body of data on how the human body responded in a vehicle accident. One of his students, Harold Mertz, went on to develop Hybrid III, the current worldwide standard crash test dummy. Lawrence also subjected himself to a 50 pound pendulum to the breast plate to test the effects of a steering column on a human. Lawrence died of Parkinson's disease on April 30, 2006, at the age of 85.<ref>Lawrence M. Patrick, 85 | BlueRidgeNow.com | Times-News Online | Hendersonville, NC</ref>