2000, Number 3
Walter Rudolf Hess. Surgeon, physiologist, and Nobel prize
Martínez-Mier G, Toledo-Pereyra LH
Full text
Language: Spanish
References: 13
Page: 132-137
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ABSTRACT
Objective: To narrate the life and legacy of Walter Rudolf Hess. Design: Historic essay (13 References). Setting: University Department of History. Walter Rudolf Hess was born in Switzerland on March 17, 1881. He did his medical school studies at the Universities of Lausenne, Bern, Berlin, and Kiel and graduated from University of Zurich in 1905. He was trained in surgery and ophthalmology in Münsterlingen and Zurich and began a lucrative private practice in Repperswil, Switzerland as an ophthalmologist in 1908. He sacrificed economic wealth in 1912 and entered The Physiology Institute of the University of Zurich, where he became its chairman holding the position for 34 years. He was a talented ophthalmologist that devised an apparatus for the oculomotor coordination exam for patients with strabismus. Hess was one of the great European physiologists who performed notorious investigations concerning the effect of altitude on the body, hemodynamics and the respiration mechanisms. He dedicated most of his life to investigating the responses of the behavior, respiration and blood pressure by stimulating the diencephalon of cats using techniques of this ower design. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1949 for his work related to the diencephalon. He was a person with multiple interests and hobbies, an endless inner drive for the search of knowledge. He trained a great number of scientists, and was a good husband and father. He died on August 12, 1973, leaving one of the most important physiology and medical research schools in Europe.REFERENCES