Dr Leopold Dintenfass was born in Poland, where he trained as a chemical engineer. He came to Australia in 1950, gaining a PhD in physical chemistry from the University of NSW. Most of his research career was spent at the Kanematsu Memorial Institute in Sydney, where he was director of haemorheology and bioheology.
His work was prolific, including several scientific books and hundreds of papers. After retirement, Leo continued to work at his research projects by courtesy of the Rachel Foster Hospital, who provided space and secretarial assistance.
He specialised in the study of the properties of blood and was a world pioneer in blood viscosity. He was honoured for his work throughout the world, having innumerable honorary professorships and the like: but typically, was least recognised in his adopted country, Australia.
In 1977, Dr Dintenfass was named as a principal research investigator by NASA, and in 1985 was the first Australian invited to have an experiment conducted in space. Blood samples were flown on NASA’s space shuttle and processed automatically during the space flight. A second experiment won a coveted berth on another shuttle flight in 1988.
He was not funded by NHMRC and consequently used a great deal of his time in raising funds privately for his research. He first applied to the Cooper Foundation in 1984, and received an annual grant until his untimely death in 1990.
The annual Leo Dintenfass Memorial Award perpetuates the memory and remarkable work of Leo Dintenfass.