Australasian Psychiatry

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The Mind Reader: the Forgotten Life of Hans Berger, Discoverer of the EEG
Robert M. Kaplan
Australas Psychiatry 2011 19: 168
DOI: 10.3109/10398562.2011.561495

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 The mind reader: the forgotten
BRIEF PSYCHIATRIC
XXX
LIVES life of Hans Berger, discoverer
of the EEG
Robert M. Kaplan

T
he discovery of the EEG was the culmination of 19th century neuro-
physiology, which, among other endeavours, aimed at a means of
measuring the activity of the brain – in metaphysical terms, trying to
read the mind or penetrate the soul.
After a telepathic experience when he came off his horse at 19, Hans Berger
(1873–1938) (Figure 1) resolved to do psychiatry, commencing at University
of Jena hospital as Assistant to Otto Binswanger.
He worked in his laboratory in the evenings, trying to assess the brain blood
flow in patients with skull fractures. After 8 futile years, Berger turned to
measuring the electrical output of the brain. He would inject Novocaine
into the scalp and put the electrode into the periosteum. Later, when the
recording technique had improved, he simply attached the electrode to the
scalp in the fashion it is now done.
It took until 1924, using a vacuum tube amplifier that gave a 100 times
magnification of the electric current, to get a minute readable electrical
tracing from the surface of the brain of patient K with a head injury. Berger
continued to refine his results for another 5 years, concerned that his find-
ings were due to artefacts.
Berger was able to show the distinction between brain waves at rest and the
altered wave (known as the alpha wave or Berger’s wave) when the subject
performed an intellectual task. He was able to show the cessation of electri-
cal activity around a brain tumour and changes that distinguished the sleep-
ing from the thinking brain. He was unable to record a grand mal fit, but
got good tracings of petit mal seizures.
Berger’s fear of failure or criticism, as well as his pathological secretiveness,
made him defer publication of his discovery. Confirming his doubts, it met
an indifferent response in Germany and, to a lesser extent, in Europe. If
Berger was upset by the lack of response, he gave no indication, continuing
to publish until 1938 a total of 14 papers; each paper had the same name,
only numbered between 1 and 14.
Australasian Psychiatry • Vol 19, No 2 • December 2010

In 1934 Lord Edgar Adrian, a leading neurophysiologist, did tests to show

Berger’s findings were artefactual, but got accurate alpha and beta trac-
ings and immediately published his findings. This led to a surge of
excitement and the EEG became a diagnostic mainstay in neurology and
psychiatry.
For Berger, this was at last vindication. In 1937, he presided with Adrian at
a symposium on electrical activity and planned to visit the USA but was
unable to travel because of the outbreak of World War II.
Berger’s working life came to an end in 1938 when he was not reappointed
Robert M. Kaplan by the Nazi party. Shattered, Berger hanged himself in 1941, unaware that
Clinical Associate Professor, Graduate School of Medicine,
University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia. he had been nominated for the Nobel prize the year before.
Correspondence: Dr Robert M Kaplan, PO Box 316, Thirroul, The EEG is now so routine in neurology, intensive care, neurosurgery, sleep
NSW 2515, Australia.
medicine, psychiatry and experimental psychology that a new generation
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
operates under the assumption that it has been there forever, unaware of

doi: 10.3109/10398562.2011.561495
168  2011 The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists
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 Berger was excessively shy, avoidant of social contact
and found it difficult to communicate with staff and
patients alike. What may have been social phobic and
avoidant traits were the motivating factors for his labo-
ratory work, rather than engagement in the clinical set-
ting. Would he have produced these results if he had
participated in the local scientific community, generating
well-regarded work?
Sadly, it is all too likely that his obsessive anxiety made
him prone to depression and this, tragically, led to his
premature demise. Berger’s findings are our gain and we
should celebrate the shy, unusual and detached man who
stuck to his plan to discover how to read the mind.

DISCLOSURE
Figure 1: Hans Berger (1873–1938). The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content
and writing of the paper.

the circumstances in which this reticent and tenacious

man made such a discovery. FURTHER READINGS
Why did Berger succeed and what does this say about
Borck C. Electricity as a medium of psychic life: electrotechnological adventures into
science? Berger strongly believed that the cortex had psychodiagnosis in Weimar Germany. Science in Context 2001; 14: 565–590.
electrical activity, and worked in isolation for several
Borck C. Recording the brain at work: the visible, the readable, and the invisible in electro-
decades until he obtained the brain tracings. encephalography. Journal of the History of Neurosciences 2008; 17: 367–379.
So great were regarded the obstacles of tracing the elec- Borck C. Writing brains: tracing the psyche with the graphical method. History of Psychology.
tricity of the brain at the time that anyone trained in 2005; 8: 79–94.
the field regarded it as futile. Without such training, Gloor P. Berger lecture. Is Berger’s dream coming true? Electroencephalography and Clinical
Berger was undeterred but had to work it all out along Neurophysiology . 1994; 90: 253–266.
the way; to have accomplished what he did must be O’Leary JL. Review: Discoverer of the brain wave. Science (new series) 1970; 168:
rated a phenomenal achievement. 562–563.

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