Carl J. Wiggers
Carl John Wiggers ( born May 28, 1883 in Davenport, Iowa, † April 28, 1963 in Cleveland, Ohio) was an American physiologist. He could make a significant contribution to the understanding of the physiology of the cardiovascular system.
Life
Carl J. Wiggers was the child of German immigrants from Holstein, Carl's father Jürgen led a restaurant in Davenport. Carl J. Wiggers acquired in 1906 from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor an MD as graduating from medical school, where he then worked as a teacher five years - interrupted by a stay with Otto Frank at the Physiological Institute of the Ludwig -Maximilians- University of Munich. 1911 Wiggers went to Graham Lusk at the Cornell Medical School in New York City, where he was an assistant professor in 1913, before 1917 a professor at Western Reserve University in Cleveland was that he retained until his retirement in 1953. He was succeeded by George Sayers. Wiggers himself took even an honorary professorship at the Frank E. Bunts Educational Institute, Cleveland.
1907 Wiggers married Minerva E. Berry, the couple had two sons. Harold Wiggers was a professor of physiology and in 1953 dean of Albany Medical College (now the University at Albany, The State University of New York). Raymond Wiggers was adman.
Work
As a student Wiggers first published scientific works; As a young teacher, he distinguished himself by teaching skills. In Munich Wiggers studied non-invasive methods for measuring pressure ( Sphygmographie ) and was later able to refine the method. He examined the function of the heart in healthy subjects ( physiology ) and sick ( pathophysiology ). The simultaneous recording of pressure and volume curves in different parts of the heart and central vessels with electrocardiogram and heart sounds is as Wigger diagram still clinical, didactic and scientific application. Wiggers was against Willem Einthoven strengthen its investigations, the position of Thomas Lewis, that the electrical activity of the heart's contraction precedes in time.
With the entry of the United States into the First World War, Wiggers turned the investigation of the soldier's heart ( cardio phobia) and hemorrhagic shock to. In Wiggers department at Western Reserve University, about 400 work for the entire physiology of the cardiovascular system have been in the 35 years of its activity on the one hand there published, on the other hand developed various apparatuses to study the system. The division of the cardiac cycle phases such exertion stage, expulsion or relaxation phase goes back to Wiggers.
Wiggers led first work through the cause and treatment of ventricular fibrillation and was able to show that improved oxygen supply to the heart increased the likelihood that an electrical defibrillation is successful. Wiggers suggested to maintain perfusion of the aorta and central vessels by rhythmic compression of the thorax and created his works that still valid basics of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, monitoring, pacemaker therapy and the planned cardiac arrest for open-heart surgery.
Wiggers had numerous functions for the American Physiological Society held: Member of the Board, Treasurer, Secretary and 1949/1950 president. Wiggers was one of the editors of scientific journals American Journal of Physiology, and - which he founded - American Heart Journal and Circulation Research.
Awards (selection)
The Western Reserve University awards since 1952, the Minerva and Carl Wiggers Prize in Physiology for graduate students. The Section cardiovascular physiology of the American Physiological Society has awarded since 1966 as its highest award to Carl I. Wiggers Memorial Award for members of society who look to an outstanding scientific life's work in the field of cardiovascular physiology. Carl I. Wiggers Memorial Award and
Fonts ( Monographs )
- A letter text of Physiology (1914 )
- Modern Aspects of the Circulation in Health and Disease ( two editions, 1915 and 1923)
- Pressure pulse in the Cardiovascular System ( 1928)
- Principles and Practice of Electrocardiography (1929 )
- Physiology in Health and Disease ( five editions, 1934-1949 )
- Physiology of Shock ( 1950)
- Circulatory Dynamics (1952)
- Reminiscences and Adventures in Circulation Research ( autobiography, 1958)