It has been a privilege to assemble and edit this issue of Biorheology dedicated to the memory of a great scientist, Stanley George Mason. In an obituary (1), I have previously given a brief account of his life's work and his studies in physicochemical hydrodynamics. The present article is an account of the manner in which his work has led to the advance of the science of Biorheology, and in particular how it laid the basis of much of our present understanding of the flow properties of mammalian blood cells.