Willem Einthoven

In 1886, Einthoven married his first cousin Frédérique Jeanne Louise de Vogel. She was the sister of Dr. W.Th. de Vogel, former Director of Public Health Service in the Dutch East Indies. The couple had four children; Augusta, Louise, Willem and Johanna.

Among them, Willem was the Director of the Radio Laboratory in Bandung, Java. He was also a reputed electro-technical engineer. Around 1912, he along with his father developed the first vacuum model of the string galvanometer and used it for wireless communication. Johanna was a physician.

Towards the end of his life Einthoven suffered from various ailments. He died 29 September 1927 in Leiden and his mortal remains were buried in the graveyard of the Reformed Church in Oegstgeest.

Willem Einthoven was born on May 21, 1860, in Semarang on the island of Java, Indonesia, then known as Dutch East Indies. His father, Jacob Einthoven, born and educated in Netherlands, was an army medical officer posted there. He later became parish doctor in Semarang.

Willem’s mother, Louise M.M.C. de Vogel, was the daughter of the then Director of Finance in the Indies. He was the third child and the eldest son his parent’s six children.

Willem lost his father at the age of six. Four years later his mother decided to shift to Netherland and subsequently settled down at Utrecht with her six children.

Willem graduated from the secondary school in 1878 and then entered the University of Utrecht as a medical student. Initially it was expected that he would follow his father’s foot step and become a doctor; but soon he began to show an outstanding talent in research work.

After Einthoven gained his ‘candidaat’ diploma, which was equivalent to the B.Sc. degree, he joined a renowned eye-hospital, Gasthuis voor Ooglidders. There he started working as an assistant to distinguished ophthalmologist H. Snellen Sr.

Sometime now, he broke his wrist. The accident kindled his interest in anatomy. Before long he published his first major paper titled ‘Quelques remarques sur le mécanisme de l'articulation du coude’ (Some remarks on the elbow joint) under the guidance of anatomist W. Koster. It attracted a widespread attention.

He next studied under physiologist F.C. Donders and in 1885 published his second paper entitled ‘Stereoscopie door kleurverschil’ (Stereoscopy by means of colour variation). It served as his doctoral thesis.

On July 4, 1885, Einthoven received his medical doctoral degree from the University of Utrecht. In the same year, he was appointed as the Professor of Physiology at the University of Leiden. However, he took up the position in January 1886, after he had qualified as a general practitioner.

At Leiden, Einthoven continued with his research work. In 1892, he published his first important paper titled ‘Über die Wirkung der Bronchialmuskeln nach einer neuen Methode untersucht, und über Asthma nervosum’ (On the function of the bronchial muscles investigated by a new method, and on nervous asthma) from there.

Einthoven is best remembered for his invention of string galvanometer, which was the first practical electrocardiograph suitable for medical use. Although one such machine had been recorded in 1887 it could not produce any quantifiable result.

Contrarily, Einthoven’s invention could detect and record even the minutest electric currents produced by human heart. In addition to that the string galvanometer is widely used in the study of the periphery and sympathetic nerves.