'''Haldane's decompression model''' is a [[Decompression practice#Decompression tables|decompressionmathematical tablemodel]] for [[UnderwaterDecompression (diving)|divingdecompression]] atto sea level atmospheric pressure of divers breathing compressed air at ambient pressure that was proposed in 1908 by the eminent Scottish physiologist, [[John Scott Haldane]] (2 May 1860 – 14/15 March 1936),<ref>[http://navxdivingu.blogspot.ae/2009/10/diving-history-john-scott-haldane.html "The United States Navy Experimental Diving Unit"]</ref> who was also famous for intrepid self-experimentation.
Haldane experimented on goats and prepared the first recognized [[Decompression theory#John Scott Haldane|decompression table]] for the [[Admiralty|British Admiralty]] in 1908 based on extensive experiments on goats and other animals using a [[clinical endpoint]] of [[symptom]]atic [[Decompressiondecompression sickness|DCS]].
Haldane observed that goats, saturated to depths of {{convert|165|ft|m}} of sea water, did not develop [[decompression sickness]] (DCS) if subsequent [[Decompression (diving)|decompression]] was limited to half the ambient pressure. Haldane constructed schedules which limited the critical supersaturation ratio to "2", in five hypothetical body tissue compartments characterized by their halftime. Halftime is also termed [[Half-life]] when linked to [[Exponential decay|exponential processes]] such as [[radioactive decay]]. Haldane's five compartments (halftimes: 5, 10, 20, 40, 75 minutes) were employedused in decompression calculations and staged decompression procedures for fifty years.
Previous theories to Haldane worked on "uniform compression", as Paul Bert pointed in 1878 that very slow decompression could avoid the [[caisson disease]], then Hermann von Schrötter definedproposed in 1895 the safe "uniform decompression" rate to be of "one [[Atmosphere (unit)|atmosphere]] per 20 minutes". Haldane in 1907 worked on "''staged Decompressiondecompression''" – decompression using a specified relatively rapid ascent rate, interrupted by specified periods at constant depth – and proved it to be safer than "''uniform decompression''" at the rates then in use, and produced his decompression tables on that basis.
