Stephen H. Dole; Retired Head of Rand Corp.’s Human Engineering Group

Stephen H. Dole, 83, retired head of the human engineering group at the Rand Corp. and author of “Habitable Planets for Man,” a standard text on what factors make up a human-habitable planet. Born in West Orange, N.J., Dole received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry cum laude from Lafayette College. He went on to study at the U.S. Naval Academy Postgraduate School, Princeton University and UCLA. During World War II, Dole served in the Pacific Theater as a Navy communications officer. Dole joined the Rand Corp. in the early 1950s and was a member of the senior staff of the firm’s engineering sciences department. As head of Rand’s Human Engineering Group from 1959 to 1968, he carried out studies on the physical and physiological requirements of human beings in the spacecraft environment, the use of inorganic reactions for recovery of oxygen in life-support systems and assessments of the radiation environment in space. He also directed a number of studies sponsored by NASA, including reports on contingency planning for spaceflight emergencies. Dole also contributed to the “NASA Life Sciences Date Book” and the “Bioastronautics Data Book” and was a member of the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science. On April 24 in Laguna Hills.