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A string galvanometer is a sensitive fast-responding measuring instrument that uses a single fine filament of wire suspended in a strong magnetic field to measure small currents. In use, a strong light source is used to illuminate the fine filament, and the optical system magnifies the movement of the filament allowing it to be observed or ...
In the Zork series of games, the Great Underground Empire has its own system of measurements, the most frequently referenced of which is the bloit. Defined as the distance the king's favorite pet can run in one hour (spoofing a popular legend about the history of the foot), the length of the bloit varies dramatically, but the one canonical conversion to real-world units puts it at ...
Willem Einthoven (21 May 1860 – 29 September 1927) was a Dutch medical doctor and physiologist. He invented the first practical electrocardiograph (ECG or EKG) in 1895 and received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1924 for it ("for the discovery of the mechanism of the electrocardiogram").
The informal public imperial measurement standards erected at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, London, in the 19th century: 1 British yard, 2 feet, 1 foot, 6 inches, and 3 inches. The inexact monument was designed to permit rods of the correct measure to fit snugly into its pins at an ambient temperature of 62°F (16 2 ⁄ 3 °C).
The electrocardiograph was impractical to use until Willem Einthoven, a Dutch physiologist, innovated the use of the string galvanometer for cardiac signal amplification. [2] Significant improvements in amplifier technologies led to the usage of smaller electrodes that were more easily attached to body parts. [ 1 ]
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However, Einthoven needed an exact way of measuring the minute amounts of current. In 1897 a French electrical engineer, Clement Ader, invented the "string galvanometer", containing a tensioned string of quartz. In 1903, Einthoven modified Ader's machine, adding electrodes attached to the patients limbs and thorax.
From 1906, he corresponded with the Dutch physiologist Willem Einthoven concerning the latter's invention of the string galvanometer and electrocardiography, and Lewis pioneered its use in clinical settings. Accordingly, Lewis is considered the "father of clinical cardiac electrophysiology".