Prof. Heinz Wolff graduated in Physiology and Physics and probably was the first individual to call himself a “Bioengineer”. He has worked as the director of Bioengineering Divisions, for the MRC, at both the National Institute for Medical Research, and the Clinical Research Centre. Whilst serving as the UK delegate on the appropriate EC Standing Committee he coined the phrase “Tools for Living”, to describe any technology, intended to enhance the quality of life of people suffering from a disability. In 1983 he founded the self-financing, Institute for Bioengineering at Brunel University (BIB), which he directed until 1995. For many years the principal activity of BIB was to design equipment for astronauts to enable them to conduct biological experiments in space, in an environment where there was no effective gravity. However, design and development in the Tools for Living areas has been an activity, which has always figured prominently on the BIB research programme. He has led a double life, sharing his professorial duties with those of a scientific entertainer on Radio and TV and as a prolific lecturer. He is now Emeritus Professor of Bioengineering at Brunel, leading a team concerned with social innovation leading to a national community based Social Enterprise to provide Care and Support for frail elderly people. The programme is called Care4Care. (Look at www. care4care.org.) Both he and his wife Joan are now 85.
