Hans Berger
(21 May 1873 – 1 June 1941) was a German neurologist, best known as the inventor of electroencephalography(EEG) in 1924, and the discoverer of the alpha wave rhythm known as "Berger's wave".
In 1924, Berger succeeded in recording the first human electroencephalogram (EEG). Filled with doubt, it took him five years to publish his first paper in 1929 which demonstrated the technique for "recording the electrical activity of the human brain from the surface of the head". His findings were met with incredulity and derision by the German medical and scientific establishments. Having visited the EEG laboratory at Jena in 1935, American roboticist William Grey Walter noted that Berger "was not regarded by his associates as in the front rank of German psychiatrists, having rather the reputation of being a crank. He seemed to me to be a modest and dignified person, full of good humour, and as unperturbed by lack of recognition as he was later by the fame it eventually brought upon him. But he had one fatal weakness: he was completely ignorant of the technical and physical basis of his method. He knew nothing about mechanics or electricity." After British electro physiologists Edgar Douglas Adrian and B. H. C. Matthews confirmed Berger's basic observations in 1934, the importance of his discoveries in electroencephalography (EEG) were finally recognized at an international forum in 1937. By 1938, electroencephalography had gained widespread recognition by eminent researchers in the field, leading to its practical use in diagnosis in the United States, England, and France.
Among his many research interests in neurology, Berger studied brain circulation, psychophysiology and brain temperature. However his main contribution to medicine and neurology was the systematic study of the electrical activity of human brain and the development of electroencephalography (EEG), following the pioneering work done by Richard Caton (1842–1926) in England with animals. In 1924, Berger made the first EEG recording of human brain activity and called it Elektrenkephalogramm.
(21 May 1873 – 1 June 1941) was a German neurologist, best known as the inventor of electroencephalography(EEG) in 1924, and the discoverer of the alpha wave rhythm known as "Berger's wave".
In 1924, Berger succeeded in recording the first human electroencephalogram (EEG). Filled with doubt, it took him five years to publish his first paper in 1929 which demonstrated the technique for "recording the electrical activity of the human brain from the surface of the head". His findings were met with incredulity and derision by the German medical and scientific establishments. Having visited the EEG laboratory at Jena in 1935, American roboticist William Grey Walter noted that Berger "was not regarded by his associates as in the front rank of German psychiatrists, having rather the reputation of being a crank. He seemed to me to be a modest and dignified person, full of good humour, and as unperturbed by lack of recognition as he was later by the fame it eventually brought upon him. But he had one fatal weakness: he was completely ignorant of the technical and physical basis of his method. He knew nothing about mechanics or electricity." After British electro physiologists Edgar Douglas Adrian and B. H. C. Matthews confirmed Berger's basic observations in 1934, the importance of his discoveries in electroencephalography (EEG) were finally recognized at an international forum in 1937. By 1938, electroencephalography had gained widespread recognition by eminent researchers in the field, leading to its practical use in diagnosis in the United States, England, and France.
Among his many research interests in neurology, Berger studied brain circulation, psychophysiology and brain temperature. However his main contribution to medicine and neurology was the systematic study of the electrical activity of human brain and the development of electroencephalography (EEG), following the pioneering work done by Richard Caton (1842–1926) in England with animals. In 1924, Berger made the first EEG recording of human brain activity and called it Elektrenkephalogramm.
Using the EEG he was also the first to describe the different waves or rhythms which were present in the normal and abnormal brain, such as the alpha wave rhythm (7.812–13.28 Hz), also known as "Berger's wave"; and its suppression (substitution by the faster beta waves) when the subject opens the eyes (the so-called alpha blockade). He also studied and described for the first time the nature of EEG alterations in brain diseases such as epilepsy.
His method involved inserting silver wires under the patients scalp, one at the front of the head and one at the back. Later he used silver foil electrodes attached to the head by a rubber bandage. As a recording device he first used the Lippmann's capillary electrometer, but results were disappointing. He then switched to the string galvanometer and later to a double-coil Siemens recording galvanometer, which allowed him to record electrical voltages as small as one ten thousandth of a volt. The resulting output, up to three seconds in duration, was then photographed by an assistant.
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