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Hans Berger (21 May 1873 – 1 June 1941) was a German psychiatrist. He is best known as the inventor of electroencephalography (EEG) in 1924, which is a method used for recording the electrical activity of the brain, commonly described in terms of brainwaves, and as the discoverer of the alpha wave rhythm which is a type of brainwave.Berger's invention has been described "as one of the most surprising, remarkable, and momentous developments in the history of clinical neurology." David Millet (2002), "The Origins of EEG" International Society for the History of the Neurosciences (ISHN)Alpha waves have been eponymously referred to as the "Berger wave."
After attending Casimirianum, where he gained his abitur in 1892, Berger enrolled as a mathematics student at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena with the intention of becoming an astronomer. After one semester, he abandoned his studies and enlisted for a year of service in the cavalry. During a training exercise, his horse suddenly reared, and he landed in the path of a horse-drawn cannon. The driver of the artillery battery halted the horses in time, leaving the young Berger shaken but with no serious injuries.Dean Radin (2006), Entangled Minds, 21. His sister, at home many kilometres away, had a feeling he was in danger and insisted their father telegram him. The incident made such an impression on Berger that, years later in 1940, he wrote: "It was a case of spontaneous telepathy in which at a time of mortal danger, and as I contemplated certain death, I transmitted my thoughts, while my sister, who was particularly close to me, acted as the receiver."Hans Berger (1940), Psyche, 6.
On completion of his military service, and obsessed by the idea of how his mind could have carried a signal to his sister, Berger returned to Jena to study medicine with the goal of discovering the physiological basis of "psychic energy."Radin (2006), Entangled Minds, 21. His central theme became "the search for the correlation between objective activity in the brain and subjective psychic phenomena." Hans Berger bio
After obtaining his medical degree from Jena in 1897, Berger joined the staff of Otto Binswanger (1852–1929), who held the chair in psychiatry and neurology at the Jena clinic. Habilitated in 1901, he qualified as a senior university lecturer in 1906 and physician-in-chief in 1912, eventually succeeding Binswanger in 1919. He also collaborated with two famous scientists and physicians, Oskar Vogt (1870–1959) and Korbinian Brodmann (1868–1918), in their research on lateralization of brain function. Berger married his technical assistant, Baroness Ursula von Bülow, in 1911 and later served as an army psychiatrist on the Western front during World War I. Hans Berger bio Answers.com He was elected Rector of Jena University in 1927.
In 1924, Berger succeeded in recording the first human electroencephalogram (EEG), a term he coined. Filled with doubt, he took 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." Millet (2002), "The Origins of EEG" (ISHN). His findings were met with incredulity and derision by the German medical and scientific establishments."... the medical and scientific establishments met him with incredulity and overwhelming skepticism when they did not ignore him altogether." Millet (2002), The Origins of EEG (ISHN). 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.W. Grey Walter (1953), The Living Brain, page no. requiredAfter British electrophysiologists Edgar Douglas Adrian and Bryan Matthews confirmed Berger's basic observations in 1934, the importance of his discoveries in electroencephalography (EEG) was finally recognized at an international forum in 1937. Hans Berger bio Encyclopedia.com 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. In 1938, at the retirement age of 65, Berger was made Professor Emeritus in Psychology. According to biographers Niedermeyer and Lopes da Silva, the appointment occurred in an unceremonious manner as his relationship with the Nazism regime was particularly strained. "Dr. Hans Berger" Online document of the Dept of Neurology, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago. Niedermeyer, Ernst and Lopes da Silva, Fernando (2005). Electroencephalography: Basic Principles, Clinical Applications, and Related Fields. Numerous sources report that, given their hostile relationship, the Nazis forced Berger into retirement that same year with a complete ban of any further work on EEG. These biographical accounts were contradicted in 2005 by Ernst Klee, a German journalist specializing in the exposure and documentation of Nazi medical crimes.That Berger was a member of the SS has yet to be double-checked for this article. The German-language source provided is: Ernst Klee, Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich: Wer war was vor und nach 1945, 41 In 2005, Dr. Susanne Zimmermann, medical historian at the University of Jena, found evidence that Berger had not been forced into retirement but had "served on the selection committee for his successor"Quoted in R. Douglas Fields (2009), The Other Brain: From Dementia to Schizophrenia, 150 Google Books Berthold Kihn, who was sacked as a Nazi after the war. Moreover, official records at the University of Jena dating from the 1930s proved that Berger had served on the Erbgesundheitsgericht (Court for Genetic Health) that imposed sterilizations, while his diaries contained anti-Semitic comments.Fields (2009), The Other Brain: From Dementia to Schizophrenia, 150-151 Google Books Dr Zimmermann's findings corroborated research published in Germany in 2003, documenting Berger's invitation by the SS racial hygienist Karl Astel to work for the EGOG ( Erbgesundheitsobergericht, Higher Genetic Health Court) in 1941. Berger replied: "I am gladly willing to work again as an assessor at the Court for Genetic Health in Jena, for which I thank you."The exact German quotation is as follows: "Als ihn 1941 Karl Astel bat, erneut am EGOG Jena tätig zu werden, teilte Berger mit: 'Ich bin sehr gerne bereit, wieder als Beisitzer beim Erbgesundheitsobergericht in Jena mitzuwirken und danke Ihnen dafür.' Ein Einsatz Bergers erfolgte nicht mehr, da er sich am 1. Juni 1941 im „Zustand tiefster Depressionen" das Leben nahm." In Hoßfeld, John, Lemuth, and Stutz (2003), "Kämpferische Wissenschaft" - Studien zur Universität Jena im Nationalsozialismus, 414. Google Books Berger did not join the Schutzstaffel, SA, or Nazi Party "despite the significant Nazification of the University of Jena, but was a supporting SS member, possibly for self-protection."
After a long period of clinical depression, and suffering from a severe skin infection,Radin (2006). Entangled Minds, 23. Berger died from suicide by hanging on June 1, 1941, in the southern wing of the clinic.
Using the EEG, he was also the first to describe the different waves or rhythms that were present in the normal and abnormal brain, such as the alpha wave rhythm (7.812 to 13.28 Hz), also known as "Berger's wave"; and its suppression (substitution by the faster ) 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 Gabriel Lippmann capillary electrometer, but results were disappointing. He then switched to the string galvanometer and later to a double-coil Siemens AG recording galvanometer, which allowed him to record electrical as small as one ten-thousandth of a volt. The resulting output, up to three seconds in duration, was then photographed by an assistant.
The EEG has been a useful tool in modern medical and psychological practices by allowing clinicians to describe and diagnose various conditions and diseases. If an individual goes to get an EEG, the doctor will look at the waveform patterns to determine how different stimuli affect the brain. These waveform patterns are called evoked potentials or EPs. If a patient's brain waves do not follow the normal EP pattern, that is an indication of a deficit in the processing of the stimuli. There are also event-related potentials, or ERPs, which provide information about mental processing of patients. Both EPs and ERPs are tools that can help doctors determine any abnormalities. The studies researching ERPs have also been helpful in the development of the brain mapping technique.
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