Hans Berger

Infobox Scientist
name = Hans Berger
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caption = Hans Berger
birth_date = May 21, 1873
birth_place = Neuses
death_date = June 1, 1941
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nationality = Germany
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alma_mater = University of Jena
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known_for = electroencephalograms
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Hans Berger (May 21, 1873 – June 1, 1941) was born in Neuses near Coburg, Thuringia, Germany. He is known as the first to record electroencephalograms from human subjects and is the discoverer of the rhythmic Alpha brain waves.

Background

Berger originally had intended to study astronomy. While he was serving in the German army in the early 1890s, his horse slipped down an embankment, nearly seriously injuring Berger. His sister many miles away had a feeling he was in danger and got her father to telegram him. This astonished him so much that he switched to study psychology Harv|Blakemore|1977.

He studied medicine at the University of Jena, receiving his doctorate in 1897. In 1900 he was hired as an assistant to Otto Ludwig Binswanger (1852-1929), chairman of the University's psychiatry and neurology clinic. There, he joined two famous scientists and physicians, Oskar Vogt (1870-1959) and Korbinian Brodmann (1868-1918) in their research on lateralization of brain function. He became a professor in 1906 and succeeded Binswanger in 1919. He later served as Rector at the University of Jena (1927-1928) and eventually became Professor Emeritus in Psychology in 1938.

Research

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 in man and called it "Electroenkephalogram". 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 (8-12 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.

"Berger, in 1935, 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." " - from The Living Brain, William Grey Walter.

International recognition came later to Berger. His results were confirmed by British and American scientists, such as Edgar Douglas Adrian and he was invited in 1937 to present his work to an international forum, where the importance and pioneering nature of his discoveries were hailed.

Death

Disturbed by the consequences of the Second World War and National Socialism to his professional and private world, Hans Berger committed suicide by hanging himself on June 1, 1941.

Selected publications

* "Über das Elektroenkephalogramm des Menschen." Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten, 1929, 87: 527-570.

References

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id = PMID:16334737
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16334737
last=Tudor
first=Mario
last2=Tudor
first2=Lorainne
last3=Tudor
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publication-date=2005
year=2005
title= [Hans Berger (1873-1941)--the history of electroencephalography]
volume=59
issue=4
periodical=Acta medica Croatica : casopis Hravatske akademije medicinskih znanosti
pages=307-13
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id = PMID:15747225
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15747225
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first=U-J
last2=Schönberg
first2=A
last3=Blanz
first3=B
publication-date=2005 Mar
year=2005
title= ["If Berger had survived the second world war - he certainly would have been a candidate for the Nobel Prize". Hans Berger and the legend of the Nobel Prize]
volume=73
issue=3
periodical=Fortschritte der Neurologie-Psychiatrie
pages=156-60
doi = 10.1055/s-2004-830086
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id = PMID:12486257
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12486257
last=Haas
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publication-date=2003 Jan
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url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12420722
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url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11600799
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periodical=Perspect. Biol. Med.
pages=522-42
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id = PMID:7813523
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7813523
last=Wiedemann
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publication-date=1994 Oct
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volume=153
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periodical=Eur. J. Pediatr.
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id = PMID:1945370
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1945370
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publication-date=1991 Oct 20
year=1991
title= [Hans Berger (1873-1941)]
volume=132
issue=42
periodical=Orvosi hetilap
pages=2327-30
*Citation
id = PMID:1944707
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1944707
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publication-date=1991 Aug
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volume=62
issue=8
periodical=Der Nervenarzt
pages=457-9
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id = PMID:799341
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/799341
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last2=Crotez-Sărmăşanu
first2=M L
publication-date=
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title= [Hans Berger (1873-1941)]
volume=21
issue=4
periodical=Revista de medicină internă, neurologie, psihiatrie, neurochirurgie, dermato-venerologie. Neurologie, psihiatrie, neurochirurgie
pages=304-5
*Citation
id = PMID:4939408
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4939408
last=Kolle
first=K
publication-date=1970 Apr 10
year=1970
title= [40 years of electroencephalography (EEG). In memoriam Hans Berger (May 21, 1873-June 1, 1941)]
volume=112
issue=5
periodical=Münchener medizinische Wochenschrift (1950)
pages=712-3
*Citation
id = PMID:4898295
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4898295
last=Klapetek
first=J
publication-date=1969 Oct 10
year=1969
title= [Reminiscence of Hans Berger]
volume=94
issue=41
periodical=Dtsch. Med. Wochenschr.
pages=2123-6
*Citation
id = PMID:4187257
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4187257
last=Gloor
first=P
publication-date=1969 Sep
year=1969
title=The work of Hans Berger.
volume=27
issue=7
periodical=Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology
pages=649
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id = PMID:4188910
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4188910
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periodical=Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology
pages=Suppl 28:1-36
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id = PMID:4876739
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4876739
last=Andreae
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publication-date=1967 Feb 5
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title= [To the great psychiatrist, Professor Hans Berger, an exemplary physician and genial researcher. To the 25th year of remembrance (1873-1941)]
volume=18
issue=3
periodical=Deutsches medizinisches Journal
pages=83-4
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id = PMID:4873369
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periodical=Beiträge zur Neurochirurgie
pages=7-11
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id = PMID:14072351
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publication-date=1962
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periodical=Actualités neurophysiologiques
pages=197-221
*Citation
id = PMID:13674375
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13674375
last=SCHULTE
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publication-date=1959 May 29
year=1959
title= [Hans Berger: a biography of the discoverer of the electroencephalogram.]
volume=101
issue=22
periodical=Münchener medizinische Wochenschrift (1950)
pages=977-80

Further reading

* cite encyclopedia
last = Schulte
first = B.P.M.
title = Berger, Hans
encyclopedia = Dictionary of Scientific Biography
volume = 2
pages = 1-2
publisher = Charles Scribner's Sons
location = New York
date = 1970
isbn = 0684101149

External links

* [http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/~eugeniik/history/berger.html Hans Berger biography]
* [http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/845.html Hans Berger] . "Who Named It" site.