Fastest Man On Earth

In the 1950s, John Paul Stapp pioneered the study of the effects of acceleration and deceleration on the human body, setting the land speed record to become the fastest man on earth. The research his experiments yielded played a crucial role in making air travel safer for military pilots and even advancing automobile safety – saving millions of lives. His 1,017-kilometer-per-hour record stood for 42 years, before Andy Green broke it in 1997.