Ken Money

Canadian scientist Kenneth Eric Money specialised in the study of the human ear, including motion sickness and disorientation. During his career he worked for the Defence and Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine, the National Research Council of Canada, and the Canadian Space Agency. Money was also an accomplished athlete who competed at the Olympics and the British Empire and Commonwealth Games.

Money attended Whitney School in Toronto before he enrolled at the University of Toronto where he competed in sports for the Varsity Blues. From there he qualified for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics where he finished in fifth place in the high jump setting a Canadian record in the process. Two years later he competed at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, Wales, this time finishing in eighth place in the same event. While at university Money became a pilot where he broke the sound barrier, went on missions to find lost aircraft, and learnt to fly helicopters.

After Money left university he joined the Defence and Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine, going on to work with the US Navy and NASA. He became an expert on how the effects of air and space travel impacts equilibrium within the vestibular system, inventing a semi-circular canal plug to prevent dizziness.

In 1983 the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) selected Money as a potential astronaut candidate. During his time with the NRC he worked as the payload controller for the 1992 Spacelab mission, which included sending medical experiments into space. During the mission Money was named as an alternate astronaut but he never flew into space. Although he did not go into space, he trained in zero gravity in the vomit comet and took flights in American jets.

Money was bestowed with multiple awards and honours including the Meritorious Service Cross, Wilbur R. Franks Award, becoming a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Society, and the Society’s Kent Gillingham Award. He was inducted into the Canadian Forces Athletic Hall of Fame and the University of Toronto’s Athletics Hall of Fame.

Personal Best: HJ – 2.03 (1956).