Hans Berger

Psychiatrist

• Born: May 21, 1873
• Birthplace: Neuses, Germany
• Died: June 1, 1941
• Place of death: Jena, Germany

Education: University of Jena

Significance: Hans Berger was a psychiatrist who conducted many experiments on the electrical activity of the brain. Berger was the first person to record human brain waves, and he became known as the father of electroencephalography. While he was originally thought to be anti-Nazi, information brought to light in the early twenty-first century indicates that Berger may have been a member of the Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS), a paramilitary organization, and he had taken part in early genetic experiments that became the Nazis' justification for genocide during World War II.

Background

Hans Berger was born in Neuses, Germany, on May 21, 1873. His father, Paul Friedrich Berger, served as the chief physician of the asylum at Coburg. His mother, Anna, was the daughter of Friedrich Rückert, a well-known poet.

As a young man, Berger originally intended to study astronomy at the University of Berlin. He began his studies but took a break from them when life in Berlin proved unappealing. Instead, Berger enlisted in the German military in 1892.

One day, Berger was riding a horse during a military exercise, and he was thrown off and landed in front of a horse-drawn battery. The other soldiers were able to stop the vehicle before it crushed Berger, and he narrowly avoided sustaining fatal injuries.

Later that day, Berger received a telegram from his father, something that had never happened before. His father asked if he was okay and said Berger's older sister, with whom he was close, suddenly became concerned that her brother was in danger and asked their father to contact him.

Berger was intrigued. He wondered what might have made his sister experience worry at the same time his life was at risk. He concluded that in his great fear and panic he must have released some form of energy that was transmitted to his sister hundreds of miles away. This idea would change his life.

Berger altered his education plans and pursued a medical degree. He studied at several institutions in Wurzburg, Berlin, Munich, and Kiel and ultimately completed his studies at the University of Jena in 1897. After passing his medical exam, he worked as an assistant to Otto Binswanger, a psychology professor at the university.

Life's Work

Before the end of the 1890s, Berger became interested in the work of a group of scientists who were investigating how the principle of conservation of energy applied to the brain. The law of conservation of energy states that the total sum of the energy in a system must remain constant; if energy is created, an equal amount of energy must leave the system. In one of his lectures, German-Austrian neuropsychiatrist Theodor Meynert put forth the theory that if the brain produced energy to cause a thought or action, an equal amount of energy must also leave the brain. Meynert and Danish psychologist Alfred Lehmann proposed that this dissipation of energy was the origin of the sensations of pain and pleasure. Lehmann took this a step further and said that in order to study this theory, it was necessary to measure the function of the brain.

This fit with Berger's interest in how his terrifying experience had been transmitted to his sister. He began a series of experiments to measure the brain's response to a variety of stimuli. He first measured blood flow in the brain by placing a water-filled rubber cap on the head of a man who had an opening in his skull from a bullet wound. The cap was fitted with sensors and connected to a device called a Marey tambour, which would pulse in time to the blood flow. The man was then subjected to a variety of stimuli, including loud noises and soft touches, and he was asked to perform simple tasks, such as counting. All the while, Berger measured the blood flow in the man's brain.

Berger also studied brain temperature and the effects of various drugs and stimulants before attempting to measure the flow of electrical energy in the brain. Experiments had already been done measuring the electrical current in the brains of dogs, and Berger had conducted similar experiments. He also worked with human volunteers.

Berger inserted silver wires into the test subject's scalp and connected them to one of several devices. Later, he would use electrodes stuck to the scalp in place of the needles. His earliest work connecting the sensors to a Lippmann capillary electrometer produced little in the way of results. After he switched to a galvanometer, a mechanical device that measured electrical current, he began to get better information.

On July 6, 1924, Berger connected his equipment to the brain of a seventeen-year-old boy undergoing neurosurgery by German surgeon Nikolai Guleke. This measured the brain's electrical waves and produced the first electroencephalogram (EEG). Berger would go on to identify several types of brain waves and name them.

The full importance of Berger's discovery was not well recognized during his lifetime. However, his expertise in brain science brought him to the attention of the increasingly powerful Nazi regime. While it was initially thought that Berger opposed the Nazis, evidence from his diaries and writings that was uncovered in the early part of the twenty-first century indicates otherwise. Berger was a willing participant in the Nazi genetic health appeals court that determined whether people with mental health conditions should be forcibly sterilized.

Berger is also believed to have been a member of the Nazi SS, though it has been conceded that this may have been for his own protection. By 1938, Berger was bedridden because of heart failure, and he was suffering from a painful skin condition known as a furuncle. He committed suicide on June 1, 1941.

Impact

Electroencephalography became standard for physicians seeking to understand the health and function of the brain. It revolutionized the way physicians were able to treat neurological conditions. Berger also identified some of the most important brain waves, including an alpha-wave rhythm that is known as Berger's wave.

Personal Life

Berger married Baroness Ursula von Bülow in 1911. The couple had one son and three daughters.

Bibliography

"Electroencephalogram." Johns Hopkins Medicine, www.hopkinsmedicine.org/healthlibrary/test‗procedures/neurological/electroencephalogram‗eeg‗92,P07655/. Accessed 6 Mar. 2017.

"Hans Berger." University of Houston, grants.hhp.coe.uh.edu/clayne/HistoryofMC/HistoryMC/Berger.htm. Accessed 6 Mar. 2017.

Herrmann, Ned. "What Is the Function of the Various Brainwaves?" Scientific American, www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-the-function-of-t-1997-12-22/. Accessed 6 Mar. 2017.

Laskow, Sarah. "The Role of the Supernatural in the Discovery of EEGs." The Atlantic, 23 Nov. 2014, www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/11/the-role-of-the-supernatural-in-the-discovery-of-eegs/382838/. Accessed 6 Mar. 2017.

Millett, David. "Hans Berger: From Psychic Energy to the EEG." Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, vol. 44, no. 4, 2001, methodsinbraincomputerinterfaces.wikispaces.com/file/view/BergerBiography.pdf. Accessed 6 Mar. 2017.

Nardi, Antonio E. "Hans Berger." International Network for the History of Neuropsychopharmocology, 26 June 2014, inhn.org/profiles/hans-berger.html. Accessed 6 Mar. 2017.

Tudor, M., et al. "Hans Berger (1873–1941)—the History of Electroencephalography." Acta Med Croatica, 2005, europepmc.org/abstract/med/16334737. Accessed 6 Mar. 2017.

Zeidman, Lawrence A., et al. "New Revelations about Hans Berger, Father of the Electroencephalogram (EEG) and His Ties to the Third Reich." Journal of Child Neurology, June 2013, www.researchgate.net/publication/237096659‗New‗Revelations‗About‗Hans‗Berger‗Father‗of‗the‗Electroencephalogram‗EEG‗and‗His‗Ties‗to‗the‗Third‗Reich. Accessed 6 Mar. 2017.