Willem Einthoven (1860-1927) Father of electrocardiography

Introduction. 1. (1860--1885) Willem Einthoven's ancestors. Early childhood at Semarang; schooldays and medical training at Utrecht. 2. (1886--1900) Scientific orientation and self-study at Leiden. Gradual concentration on electrophysiology in particular of the heart, using Lippmann's capillary electrometer. 3. (1901--1915) The string galvanometer and its applications; development of electrocardiography. 4. (1916--1927) Ultimate improvement of the string galvanometer; its achievements and limitations. Einthoven's American lecture tour and Nobel Prize. Survey of electrocardiography completed during final illness. 5. Willem Einthoven and his relatives, friends and personally acquainted scientists. Part I: Selected Dutch correspondence: Donders, Bosscha, Lorentz, Julius, Wenckebach, de Vogel, W.F. Einthoven, De Waart. 6. Willem Einthoven's correspondence with personally acquainted colleagues. Part II: Selected correspondence in English and German: Fahr, Waller, Lewis, Wilson, Samojloff, A.V. Hill, Wiggers. Review of their papers on Einthoven. 7. Additional evaluations of Einthoven's work (by not personally acquainted authors) including Johansson (Chairman Nobel Prize Committee) together with comments on Kraus and Nicolai; furthermore Burch and De Pasquale; Katz and Hellerstein; Shapiro; Cooper (Sections 1 and 4--7). Some correspondence and arrangements concerning production of the string galvanometer in particular with Edelmann and Ebert together with a comparison of Einthoven's work to that of Ader (Sections 2 and 3). Concluding remarks. References.