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#9735 - 15/01/05 11:51 AM The History of Biomedical Engineering
Geoff Hannis Online   content
Hero


Registered: 12/02/04
Posts: 3046
Loc: the path less trodden
The world-famous management guru Peter Drücker advises us to "Choose the future, as against the past". But consider the reverse. After all, you know where you are with the past. It is known. It can be researched. Be cautioned, though, that another wise man said "You have to be careful with the past. They do things differently there!" (personally, I recommend picking a period that suits you and then living in it).

But, how about the “History of Biomed”?

Here is an extract from an interview with Walter P. McClain, Clinical Engineering Chief at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington D.C., published in the March 1996 issue of “Healthcare Technology Management”:-

“Biomedical engineering may have its origins in the U.S. Army, when, on 19 July 1919, the Quartermaster General received a letter from the Surgeon General which stated that ‘It is believed to be better policy to have a central repair establishment where surgical instruments and delicate laboratory equipment can be sent for repairs’. Such a repair shop was set up three years later.”

Surely the other gurus (those that visit this site) can add to this time-line. Here’s one for starters:-

1957 - Technicon Instruments introduced the Technicon AAI clinical chemistry analyzer.

Any more … ? \:\)

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#9736 - 22/01/05 09:42 PM Re: The History of Biomedical Engineering
Geoff Hannis Online   content
Hero


Registered: 12/02/04
Posts: 3046
Loc: the path less trodden
Come on, all you scholars! Here's a framework to start you off:-

1895 Wilhelm Roentgen discovers X-Rays (accidentally!)

1896 Henry Becquerel discovers that X-Rays were emitted from uranium ore. Two of his students, Pierre and Marie Curie, trace the radiation to the element radium.

1912 Eindhoven records the first electrocardiogram.

1924 Hans Berger discovers the electroencephalogram.

1927 Phillip Drinker builds the first “iron lung”.

1928 Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin (again, by accident).

1930’s Mechanical refrigeration permits the first blood banks.

1936 The first of the sulfa-drugs – sulphanilamide – appears (just in time for WWII, along with penicillin).

1940’s Cardiac catheterisation appears.

1950’s William Kouwenhoven’s closed-chest electric cardiac defibrillator was used for the first time to save a human life.

1953 John Gibbon performed the first human open heart operation using cardiopulmonary bypass (heart-lung machine).

1968 HP 8020-A – the first foetal monitor.

1970’s CT systems appear (the famous EMI Scanner).

1980's MRI systems appear.

Here’s a couple of other sites worth taking a look at:-

http://www.whitaker.org/glance/history.html

http://home.att.net/~steinert/wwii.htm

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blmedical.htm

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#22633 - 17/03/07 08:17 PM Re: The History of Biomedical Engineering [Re: Geoff Hannis]
Geoff Hannis Online   content
Hero


Registered: 12/02/04
Posts: 3046
Loc: the path less trodden
I reckon it's about time I gave this one another go! Any scholars joined the forum since January 2005, I wonder? \:\)
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#22634 - 17/03/07 08:50 PM Re: The History of Biomedical Engineering [Re: Geoff Hannis]
Huw Administrator Online   content
Hero


Registered: 20/06/00
Posts: 1392
Loc: Essex
1926 Albert Hyman creates an electro-mechanical instrument which may have been the first true external artificial pacemaker.

1959 Temporary transvenous pacing first demonstrated.

Wiki
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#22639 - 18/03/07 10:28 AM Re: The History of Biomedical Engineering [Re: Huw]
Geoff Hannis Online   content
Hero


Registered: 12/02/04
Posts: 3046
Loc: the path less trodden
... don't stop there, Mate! \:\)
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#22657 - 19/03/07 12:04 PM Re: The History of Biomedical Engineering [Re: Geoff Hannis]
John Sandham Administrator Offline
Hero


Registered: 03/07/00
Posts: 1493
Loc: UK
Hello Geoff,

I am feeling a bit historic myself. ;\)

Some years ago I did some research on electrotherapy. It was amazing to find out that people have been using electicity to relieve pain for thousands of years. Historic texts show that electric eels were used to numb pain. The electric eel generates its characteristic electrical pulse in a manner similar to a battery, in which stacked plates produce an electrical charge. In the electric eel, some 5,000 to 6,000 stacked electroplaques are capable of producing a shock at up to 500 volts and 1 ampere of current (500 watts).

The first TENS device ???
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#22898 - 30/03/07 11:41 AM Re: The History of Biomedical Engineering [Re: John Sandham]
Geoff Hannis Online   content
Hero


Registered: 12/02/04
Posts: 3046
Loc: the path less trodden
Yesterday, the popular BBC Radio 4 programme “In Our Time” (presented by Melvyn Bragg – our beloved Lord Bragg of Wigton) discussed the “History of Anaesthetics”. You can listen again to the piece (if you’re quick about it) by going to the BBC’s Radio 4 website, and look for “Listen Again”. I haven’t included a link here, as these would be pretty transient (ie, they don’t stay up for more than a few days). All good stuff, though, and recommended. Enjoy! \:\)
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#22903 - 30/03/07 01:24 PM Re: The History of Biomedical Engineering [Re: Geoff Hannis]
John Sandham Administrator Offline
Hero


Registered: 03/07/00
Posts: 1493
Loc: UK
I caught some of driving in my car. Quite intesting that ether was once used for 'recreational' purposes. ;\)
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#22908 - 30/03/07 02:55 PM Re: The History of Biomedical Engineering [Re: John Sandham]
Alex Goff Offline
Newbie


Registered: 29/03/07
Posts: 2
Loc: Panamá, Republic of Panamá
thank for the information, i believe that we have a longer history than that, medical instrumentes o surgical instruments where made by some one , not biomed eng by title but who can claim that he was not a biomed in spirit. ????

lets find out,

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#22912 - 30/03/07 07:08 PM Re: The History of Biomedical Engineering [Re: Alex Goff]
Geoff Hannis Online   content
Hero


Registered: 12/02/04
Posts: 3046
Loc: the path less trodden
I thought everybody did that, John. Good for karaoke, you know! \:\)

Good point, there, Alex. Who was the first biomed (...and before any wise-acre comes back, No, it wasn't me)? The hunt is on!

How about Bill Wakely at Arborfield? I reckon he (along with Bill Jamieson) has a just claim to be the "Father of Electro-Med" as far as the British Army was concerned. Any more legends come to mind? \:\)

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