Recording Heart Beat

Augustus Desiré Waller

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"Those who suffer from frequent and strong faints without obvious cause die suddenly"  Hippocrates

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In 1887, Waller became a lecturer in charge of physiology at St Mary's Hospital Medical School, London, and it was here that he made his important contribution to medicine, he recorded the first human electrocardiogram (ECG). He believed his equipment was cumbersome and hard to use, and that the 'tracings' were poor, recording only 2 distorted deflections.  At that time, he did not realise the potential importance of the ECG as a diagnostic and investigative tool...

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Clearly a showman, he lectured on the electrogram, as he

called it, in Europe and America. His favourite dog, Jimmie,

starred in many of his ECG demonstrations, standing in

pots of saline for hours on end. Raising a question in the

House of Commons about 'cruelty to animals'. Nevertheless,

Waller was recognised as laying the foundation for the

universal deployment of ECG - as we know it today.

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Prof. Einthoven realised the potential importance of the ECG as a diagnostic tool, he perfected Waller's work and was  awarded the Nobel Prize in 1924

(2 years after Waller's death)!

Images: wellcomeimages.org/Wikimedia • Licensed for reuse under CC BY 4.0