Walter Rudolf Hess Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1949

him, for instance, to say “bon appétit” Hess was referring to the time he was on the appropriate occasions. able to ascribe a chance find during A fascination with living beings dissection – an anomaly in the arteries is a leitmotif in the life of Walter Ru- of the foot – to the laws of mechanics. dolf Hess, although he was no senti- For his dissertation at the University mental animal lover. In addition to of Zurich in 1901, Hess researched into entertaining him, animals served as the viscosity of blood, promptly in- objects of study and research; indeed, venting a new instrument for this pur- Hess believed animals and humans pose: The Hess viscometer, which was are physiologically very similar. As a used for decades in medical practice. researcher, he admired the ingenious As an ophthalmologist in Rapperswil design of the body, which he viewed – a plaque on the house “Zum Pelikan” as a self-sustaining machine that had commemorates his work there – in 1909 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1949 achieved perfection through evolution. he introduced a new method for the “for his discovery of the functional organi- It was in the 1930s that Hess found his easy recognition of motor disorders zation of the interbrain as a coordinator of most fruitful field of research: The of the eye and, in 1912, he developed a the activities of the internal organs” functioning of the brain.

It all started with observations of * 17 March 1881 in Frauenfeld Walter Rudolf Hess viewed nature in rural Thurgau and with lab- † 12 August 1973 in Ascona the body as a machine that had oratory experiments that Walter Ru- achieved perfection through 1913–1916 Privatdozent dolf, born in 1881, carried out with his evolution. 1917–1951 Professor of Physiology father, a physics teacher at the high at the University of Zurich school in Frauenfeld. This dual in- terest, combined with his “absolutely technique for stereo photography that primordial originality” – referred to only failed to achieve practical appli- in the commemorative volume for his cation on account of the impending 60th birthday – made him a brilliant outbreak of the first world war. The Puzzle inventor and one of the most renowned Hess entered into medical practice exponents of experimental biology. at the wish of his fiancée, Louise Sand- of Sleep His medical studies took Walter meier, who was also from Frauenfeld. Parrots are more usually associated Rudolf Hess to several universities at But he was unhappy as a physician with pirates, but this one belonged to a home and abroad: Lausanne, Berne, and longed to return to the world of re- professor: Joko the parrot was happiest Berlin, Kiel, and Zurich. In recalling search. Despite his wife’s reservations sitting on Walter Rudolf Hess’s shoulder “my first encounter with work of a concerning the financial consequences, and would repeatedly bite through the true scientific nature … I see myself in 1912 he took a position as assistant to cable of his hearing aid. The bird could in the dissection hall of the Zurich Professor Justus Gaule at the Institute do as it liked, much to the annoyance of anatomy department,” said Hess in of Physiology. The Hesses moved, with Mrs. Hess. The professor was interested the speech he gave in the main lecture their two-year-old daughter, Gertrud, in the mental abilities of the parrot, hall of the University of Zurich after to Winterthurerstrasse 27 in Zurich, which he trained diligently. He taught the announcement of his Nobel Prize. where his son, Rudolf Max, was born

www.nobelpreis.uzh.ch/en_hess.html Walter Rudolf Hess – Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1949 1/4 in 1913. “Lisy” Hess supported her supporting muscles. To better explain After investigating topics related to husband in his work throughout his his physiological insights, Hess had circulation, from 1929 onwards he de- life, acting as his private secretary and animated films and ingenious mod- termined to learn more about the na- typing his scientific articles for him. els designed. His physiology lectures ture and purpose of sleep. Doing this Walter Rudolf Hess’s habilitation were always minutely prepared, and involved experiments on animals, and thesis dealt with the physiological-bi- if a lecture went wrong, the laboratory Hess chose cats because they vary lit- ological basis of the cardiovascular assistant would hear all about it – Hess tle in their physique and because they system. Again, he demonstrated his had inherited his mother’s lively Saxon sleep a lot during the day. Over the extraordinary ability to derive scien- temperament. course of this work, Hess developed tific laws using logic. In 1915, he took Hess worked for many years at the a method for electrically stimulating the opportunity to work for a year in Institute of Physiology, housed in the individual areas of the interbrain. For Bonn with renowned physiologist Max top floor of the University’s physics years, he conducted these difficult and Verworn. Upon returning to Zurich, building at Rämistrasse 69. At the end complicated experiments with the his professional situation had changed of 1923, however, Hess’s realm was se- greatest care, yet with little support. dramatically: The head of the institute, riously endangered when a caretaker’s A nanny, whose help was no longer re- Justus Gaule, was seriously ill and had negligence resulted in an attic fire one quired at his home, became his faithful resigned prematurely. Hess assumed assistant: For 20 years Anna Jaussi took Gaule’s position ad interim – but could notes of the experiments and compiled Literature, art, and music had he, a young Privatdozent, have any the statistics on the experiments on the little clout in Hess’s life – the hope of being appointed Gaule’s suc- brain. Thus, step by step, fundamental microscope was culture. cessor? The appointment procedures insights were obtained into the func- took on political overtones. Initially, tioning of the brain. an experienced German physiologist night. Yet the destruction had a pos- At the age of 68, and still hard at was preferred over Hess, leading to itive consequence: The building was work, Walter Rudolf Hess was awarded resentment at the institute. In addition, radically rebuilt, with an extra floor the Nobel Prize for his research into it was discovered that a very strong giving the physiology researchers the interbrain. He regarded the award recommendation for Hess given by more space. In addition, Hess gained ceremony in Stockholm in December Verworn had been kept quiet. The di- a further, unique location for science 1949 as one of the great moments in his rector of education in Zurich, Heinrich with the – hotly contested – founda- life. Despite his international experi- Mousson, then intervened personally tion of the international High Altitude ence, Hess was also very fond of local in the appointment procedure and, in Research Station on the Jungfraujoch. celebrations and social occasions, al- September 1917, Hess was named pro- The private residence of the Hess though there was no real place in fam- fessor of physiology and head of the family was now a dwelling appropriate ily life for literature, art, or music. “The institute. He showed his appreciation to his status, located on Susenberg- microscope is culture,” Hess remarked to the University by spending his en- strasse 198, near the Kurhaus Rigiblick. when his daughter, Trudi, complained tire research career there. Yet the household remained emphat- about this state of affairs. While his Right from the start, Walter Rudolf ically modest, with no room given to son, Rudolf Max, a neurologist, supple- Hess took his teaching duties seriously. personal luxury. Hess built an aquar- mented his father’s studies of the brain Known to his students as an inspiring ium and a terrarium for the children with electroencephalogram investiga- lecturer, if at times severe and impa- on the veranda so they had the op- tions, Trudi went her own way: After tient, he was one of the first instruc- portunity to study nature. The family studying biology, in 1948 she trained as tors to make use of film in his lectures was completed by a small wolfhound an analyst at the newly founded C.G. and research. He recorded athletes in named Jürg. Jung Institute. motion, thus documenting the perfect As head of the Institute, Hess was When Walter Rudolf Hess retired combination of the active, holding, and free to choose his own area of research. as head of the institute in 1951, he had

www.nobelpreis.uzh.ch/en_hess.html Walter Rudolf Hess – Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1949 2/4 made Zurich into a globally renowned Revealed in Zurich: of laboratory animals - and our noble aims center of brain research, and he could oblige us to observe their well-being - is ever look on with satisfaction as his stu- The Organization of disregarded, we are unconditionally on the dents continued his work. As professor the Interbrain side of animal rights advocates.” emeritus, he retained an office in the The diencephalon, or “interbrain,” is, as its The possibility that his basic research Institute of Anatomy at the University name implies, located between the brain could result in therapeutic applications Hospital where he continued to write stem – which sits on the spinal cord – and was not one of Hess’s key concerns. Indeed, academic papers, his dog “Schnäuzli” the cerebrum, the brain part that is par- interventions in the brain in the first half often keeping him company. From ticularly well developed in humans. The in- of the 20th century were still brutal affairs. Goldauerstrasse 25 – in the 1940s the terbrain controls vegetative functions and Spanish neurologist Egas Moniz was family had moved somewhat closer emotional reactions essential to life: Body awarded the Nobel Prize in 1949, together to the city – Hess usually took the temperature, the body’s water balance, feel- with Hess, “for his discovery of the thera- ­Rigiblick funicular and the tram to ings of hunger and satiation, flight-or-fight peutic value of leucotomy in certain psycho- work, with his dog running alongside responses, and also sleep. The biological ses.” In this operation, the nerve tracts in the tram car – a spectacle that gave rise function of sleep had long represented a the frontal region of the brain are severed, puzzle for scientists. Walter Rudolf Hess un- which was intended as a cure for delusions. derstood it as an essential means of allow- The procedure, however, tragically resulted Hess transformed Zurich into ing the body to recover from daily activities, in irreparable damage and personality an internationally renowned thus permitting “maintenance work” to be changes in patients. center of brain research carried out in conditions of external calm. Yet Hess’s own research method using Researching the interbrain was highly deep electrical brain stimulation has been to numerous comments from ­passers- complicated. First, scientists gave the labo- used successfully in recent years to treat by. His grandson, Christian W. Hess, ratory animals, in this case cats, food to get the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease and himself a professor of neurology, re- them used to the laboratory bench. After other motor disorders. Electrodes are sur- calls his grandfather taking him and being giving anesthesia, the cats were fit- gically implanted in the brain and linked his siblings on highly educational ted with an electrode socket on the skull, though thin wires with a pulse generator walks, which often ended with a cup of through which the fine steel wires could be in the chest area. The impulses can prevent Ovomaltine at the Kurhaus Rigiblick. threaded into the brain, which is insensi- trembling or overcome akinesia in patients. In 1967 the Hesses left Zurich and tive to pain. After being subjected to light Nevertheless, discovering precisely how moved, with Joko the parrot, to their electric stimulus, the animals displayed, for these “pacemakers for the brain” function holiday home in Ticino. Walter Rudolf instance, drowsiness or aggressive behav- remains a task for future generations. (MW) Hess died there, of heart failure, at the ior, depending on the location of the elec- age of 92. Margrit Wyder trodes. The traces made by the electrodes in the interbrain could then be observed after Source: Margrit Wyder: Einstein und Co. – Nobelpreisträger in Zürich; Verlag NZZ libro, the animal had been euthanized, allowing Zürich 2015 Illustration: Aline Telek scientists to explore brain tissue, millimeter Translation: University of Zurich by millimeter. They subsequently created a cartography of the brain and were able to al- locate individual functions to localized areas. Hess placed great importance on treating the cats as humanely as possible. “Animal welfare in animal experiments” was a major consideration, and he wrote about this topic in Der Tierfreund, an animal magazine for young people: “If the welfare

www.nobelpreis.uzh.ch/en_hess.html Walter Rudolf Hess – Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1949 3/4 Inspiring and demanding: Walter Walter Rudolf Hess was interested in what the brain can do: He taught Rudolf Hess in the lecture hall. his parrot Joko to say “bon appétit” before meals. Image: Private collection Christan W. Hess. Photo: Privatarchiv Christian W. Hess

An experiment on a cat in Walter Rudolf Hess’s lab, documented by Anna Jaussi. Photo: Privatarchiv Christian W. Hess

www.nobelpreis.uzh.ch/en_hess.html Walter Rudolf Hess – Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1949 4/4