Rodway, George W. Ulrich C. Luft and physiology on Nanga Parbat: the winds of war. High Alt. Med. Biol. 10:89-96, 2009.-Ulrich Cameron Luft (1910-1991) is a significant figure in the annals of high altitude physiology and medicine. He combined a passionate interest in mountaineering with an equally passionate interest in human physiology at a pivotal time in modern history. His involvement in the 1937 and 1938 German Nanga Parbat expeditions as mountaineer and scientist set the stage for his subsequent work in aviation physiology carried out in Germany and then later in America when aerospace medicine was emerging as a specialty. His postwar career as a scientist and educator was equally distinguished by virtue of the large numbers of young scientists he trained and his contributions to aerospace medicine over the course of several decades.