Brett Gooden

Dr Gooden was born in 1943 and attended Prince Alfred College from 1953 – 1960.

He has had two careers, one in the world of academia and the other at the coal face of hospital and general practice.

After leaving Princes Dr Gooden enrolled as a medical student at the University of Adelaide. He obtained his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery in 1967. He then decided to pursue a career in aerospace medicine and returned to the Physiology Department where he carried out research in aviation and diving medicine. In 1972 he obtained a Doctorate in Medicine on the basis of this research.

Subsequently, Dr Gooden was awarded a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship, one of only a handful of Princes men to do so, and was offered a position as a Visiting Scientist at the University of Texas.

There he continued his studies in diving physiology in humans and other animals.

He then took up a Lectureship in Physiology at the new Medical School in Nottingham, UK. On the basis of his study of the effects of low oxygen on blood vessels, he obtained a Doctor of Philosophy in 1978.

Missing the practice of clinical medicine, Dr Gooden returned to Adelaide and established a general practice at Linden Park. However, he continued to take part in physiological research and writing.

His several books include works on various aspects of diving and aerospace medicine. Over the last few years Dr Gooden has been an invited Lecturer on Space Medicine for the International Space University.

In addition, Dr Gooden is an internationally acclaimed historian of the German Second World War secret vertical take-off rocket developed as Projekt Natter (Viper). He is the author of the authoritative Projekt Natter: last of the wonder weapons and addressed the Royal Aeronautical Society in London on this topic in 2019.

In recent years Dr Gooden has been a committee member involved in the management of the Prince Alfred College Foundation Scholarship Fund. Through this Dr Gooden established the Brett Gooden Space Science Scholarship for a student who may pursue a career in science and the space industry. Dr Gooden has derived enormous pleasure from meeting scholarship recipients and observing their progress at the College.

The College thanks Dr Gooden for his generous gesture in establishing the scholarship and acknowledges the contribution he has also made to the academic life of the College through the Science faculty as a visiting lecturer.

Above all, he is a man of principle, he is meticulous, and a true gentleman who has a deep love for his school.

He has lived a remarkable life.