After leaving the School of Tropical and Preventive Medicine, Halstead organized the World Life Research Institute in Reche Canyon and later in Grand Terrace. His lifetime friend, Lawrence D. Longo, MD, well remembered the passion Bruce had for the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco, and its many creatures, and then added: “With support of grants from the Office of Naval Research and other agencies, he pursued studies that concentrated on venomous fishes and other creatures of the world. As you know, it was in this field that Bruce excelled. In 1970, he published his three volumes Poisonous and Venomous Marine Animals of the World, a classic that remains the definitive work in the field…. To my mind, Bruce was a truly great human being. In pioneering the biotoxicology of fish and other marine animals, he can be said to have invented the field.”
Dr. Halstead authored 14 books and more than 300 other publications. His monumental three-volume set, Poisonous and Venomous Marine Animals of the World, was a more than 22-year effort and funded by the Pentagon. It eventually became a five-volume set. In 1970, the $2 million project was thought to be the largest and most expensive printing job ever undertaken by the United States Government Printing Office. Dr. Halstead became a Commander in the United States Navy and used the Navy’s ships, planes, and bases. He not only worked with the United States Navy, but also with the Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, Marines, and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He conducted expeditions around the world, including the South and Central Pacific, the Galapagos Islands, and the Red Sea.
Halstead’s achievements remind us of the fact that he was related to Isaac Newton. In 1999, Time magazine selected Newton as the most influential person of the seventeenth century. Voltaire, one of the great French leaders in the burgeoning thought and reasoning movement of the time lauded the scientist with, “If all the geniuses of the universe were assembled, he should lead the band.”
Famed French mathematician and cosmologist Joseph Lagrange suggested that Newton’s Principia “was assured for all time preeminence above all other productions of the human intellect.”
In addition to Dr. Halstead’s epic achievements, he had an incredible collection of rare books, herbals, a huge reference library, and all types of botanical specimens. Dr. Longo continued: “Because I knew Bruce for six decades and considered him a good friend, I would like to say a few words about him personally. Descriptors I would use include that he was a unique human being, one of a kind, with a strong puritanical work ethic. He was ambitious, passionate, focused, a visionary, very much a loner, conscientious, an inspiration. ...he was conscientious almost to a fault. He received many accolades and honors, including being a consultant to the World Health Organization, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the U.S. Navy and its Medical School in Bethesda, Maryland, Jacques Cousteau, and advising many foreign governments. In addition he served as a visiting scientist/lecturer at almost one hundred institutions around the world. His knowledge of, and impact on, the field of toxicology of marine animals and science were nonparallel and are irreplaceable.”