Nello Pace; Pioneered Weightlessness Study

Nello Pace, 78, who pioneered the study of the physiological effects of weightlessness. Pace, a UC Berkeley physiology professor from 1948 until his retirement in 1977, served as a consultant to NASA in the 1960s. He conducted some of the first studies of weightlessness on monkeys in orbit and climbed Himalayan and California mountains to study the effects of low oxygen levels on humans. He also traveled to Antarctica to record the effects of subfreezing temperatures and spent time at a hospital unit in the Korean War to study combat fatigue. Born in Richmond, Calif., Pace grew up in San Francisco and earned his degrees at UC Berkeley. After his retirement, Pace continued to collaborate on studies of weightlessness, including helping with the joint U.S.-Russia Cosmos 1129 Biological Satellite Mission in 1979 and 1980. On June 17 in Berkeley.