Roald Dahl-an author who helped save lives

It's Roald Dahl's birthday. I always liked his books as my mum used to read some of them to me when I was younger. Today I found one more reason to like the man-he was a bit of a scientist as well. Roald Dahl's son was struck by a car and contracted a medical condition called hydrocephalus (where fluid builds up in the brain). To drain the fluid and help his son get better,  Dahl worked with a  hydraulic engineer named Stanley Wade and a neurosurgeon named Kenneth Till, to make a shunt (a tube attached to a valve) to use to get the fluid out of his son's head. Thousands of people have been helped by the shunt that Roald Dahl created (called the Wade-Dahl-Till valve.)  So now you know that along with writing really funny kids books like the BFG and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the man also helped save lives- he really was scrumdidlyumptiously cool!