Roald Dahl

Though best known as the author of children’s books such as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “James and the Giant Peach,” Roald Dahl lived a varied life that also included stints as a World War II fighter ace, a British intelligence agent and—in the early 1960s—a pioneer in new neurosurgical technology. Dahl’s interest in medicine came after a car accident left his four-month-old son with hydrocephalus, or “water on the brain.” Determined to ease his child’s suffering, the writer teamed with pediatric neurosurgeon Kenneth Till and toymaker and hydraulic engineer Stanley Wade in the development of a device to more effectively drain fluid from the brain. The result was the Wade-Dahl-Till Valve, a type of cerebral shunt that was cheaper, easier to sterilize and less prone to blockages than earlier units. Dahl’s son’s condition had improved by the time the device was put into production in 1962, but the valves were later used to treat some 3,000 children worldwide.