Merrill Kenneth Albert
He was a pioneer in the development and use of biomechanical devices and modeling in major personal injury cases to explain the mechanical properties of the musculoskeletal system in relation to the physics and dynamics of collisions with cars, trains, and human beings involved in accidents.[citation needed] Left under the name of Merrill Smith, he picked apples at the Salvation Army Home for Boys during the Great Depression.After becoming the youngest officer ever to obtain a Master's License in the Merchant Marine, Albert stopped sailing and returned to his studies at UC Berkeley.[citation needed] In 1990 Albert retired from the practice of law and devoted himself to the full-time enjoyment of opera, tennis, horse racing (he was a long-time member of the Santa Anita Park Turf Club), and various other pursuits.[citation needed] It was followed in 2011 by the collection The Year 2012 Ushers in the Age of Fire and Other Short Stories, a series of tales centering on a coming apocalypse and a Polynesian tribe's attempts to prepare for it.