Geoffrey Melvill Jones

Melvill Jones, Geoffrey

Geoffrey Melvill Jones, physiologist, medical doctor (b at Cambridge, Eng 14 Jan 1923). Jones is a pioneer in aviation medical research in Canada, specializing in research on the body's vestibular system (balancing organs in the inner ear) and its role in problems of disorientation in flight environments. He has also studied the brain's ability to adapt to conflicting information from several bodily sensory systems, particularly the relationship between vestibular and visual sensory information. Melvill Jones began his aviation-related medical research as an RAF scientific officer, studying problems in high-altitude respiration and escape, long-duration flying fatigue, and pilot disorientation. In 1961, after coming to Canada, he inaugurated McGill's Aviation Medical Research Unit as its director. He has examined physiological adaptation to zero-gravity among Skylab astronauts and has collaborated in research on physiological zero-g adaptation among space-shuttle astronauts. He has received numerous awards and honours.