Med Pregl 2016; LXIX (11-12): 391-401. Novi Sad: novembar-decembar. 391 HISTORY OF MEDICINE ISTORIJA MEDICINE University of Belgrade, Belgrade History of medicine Faculty of Medicine Istorija medicine Institute for Pathophysiology “Ljubodrag-Buba Mihailović“ UDK 615.84:929 Tesla N. DOI: 10.2298/MPNS1612391V NIKOLA TESLA AND MEDICINE: 160TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF THE GENIUS WHO GAVE LIGHT TO THE WORLD - PART II NIKOLA TESLA I MEDICINA − 160 GODINA OD ROĐENJA GENIJA KOJI JE SVETU PODARIO SVETLOST − II DEO Danijela VUČEVIĆ, Drago ĐORĐEVIĆ and Tatjana RADOSAVLJEVIĆ Summary Sažetak Introduction. Nikola Tesla (1856 - 1943) was a genius inventor and Uvod. Nikola Tesla (1856−1943) bio je genijalni pronalazač i na- scientist, whose contribution to medicine is remarkable. Part I of učnik koji je izuzetno doprineo razvoju medicine. U našem pret- this article reviewed special contributions of the world renowned hodnom radu opisan je poseban doprinos ovog naučnika svetskog scientist to the establishment of radiology as a new discipline in glasa utemeljenju radiologije kao nove medicinske discipline. U medicine. This paper deals with the use of Tesla currents in medi- ovom radu dat je osvrt na primenu Teslinih struja u medicini. cine. Tesla Currents in Medicine. Tesla’s greatest impact on Primena Teslinih struja u medicini. Teslin izum koji je najzna- medicine is his invention of a transformer (Tesla coil) for producing čajnije doprineo medicini je transformator (Teslin kalem) za high frequency and high voltage currents (Tesla currents). Tesla stvaranje visokofrekventnih i visokonaponskih struja (Teslinih currents are used in diathermy, as they, while passing through the struja). Tesline struje se koriste u postupcima medicinske dija- body, transform electrical energy into a therapeutic heat. In 1891, termije, pri čemu se prilikom njihovog prolaska kroz organizam Tesla passed currents through his own body and was the first to električna energija pretvara u toplotnu, te se na taj način zagre- experience their beneficial effects. He kept correspondence on elec- vanjem tkiva u unutrašnjosti organizma postiže terapijski efekat. trotherapy with J. Dugan and S. H. Monell. In 1896, he used high Poznato je da se Tesla dopisivao sa lekarima elektroterapeutima, frequency currents and designed an ozone generator for producing Duganom i Monelom. Podstaknut korišćenjem visokofrekventnih ozone, with powerful antiseptic and antibacterial properties. Tesla is struja, Tesla je 1896. godine konstruisao ozonski generator, koji famous for his extensive experiments with mechanical vibrations služi za dobijanje ozona, agensa sa snažnim baktericidnim svoj- and resonance, examining their effects on the organism and pioneer- stvima. Nikola Tesla je ispitivao i uticaj mehaničkih vibracija i ing their use for medical purposes. Tesla also designed an oscilla- rezonancije na organizam i prvi ih primenio u medicinske svrhe. tor to relieve fatigue of the leg muscles. It is less known that Tesla’s S tim u vezi, osmislio je oscilator koji je koristio za suzbijanje inventions (Tesla coil and wireless remote control) are widely used umora u nožnim mišićima. Malo je poznato da su Teslini prona- in modern medical equipment. Apart from this, wireless technol- lasci (transformator i sistem za bežično daljinsko upravljanje) ogy is nowadays widely applied in numerous diagnostic and thera- nezaobilazni deo korišćenja medicinske opreme. Pored toga, be- peutic procedures. Conclusion. Nikola Tesla was the last Renais- žična tehnologija u današnje vreme se takođe u potpunosti pri- sance figure of the modern era. Tesla bridged three centuries and menjuje u sklopu brojnih dijagnostičkih i terapijskih procedura. two millennia by his inventions, and permanently indebted human- Zaključak. Nikola Tesla je poslednja renesansna ličnost moder- kind by his epochal discoveries. nog doba. Svojim grandioznim delom spojio je tri veka i dva Key words: History of Medicine; Famous Persons; Portraits as milenijuma i večno zadužio čovečanstvo. Topic; Electric Stimulation Therapy; Ozone; Radio Waves; Ključne reči: istorija medicine; poznate ličnosti; portreti; elek- Diathermy; Wireless Technology troterapija; ozon; radio talasi; dijatermija; bežična tehnologija Introduction ewed his remarkable contribution to the esta- blishment of radiology as a new discipline in medi- Nikola Tesla (1856 - 1943) was a genius inventor cine. Part II reviews the application of Tesla currents and scientist whose contribution to the development in medicine. of medicine is outstanding. Part I of this paper revi- Corresponding Author: Prof. dr Danijela Vučević, Medicinski fakultet, Institut za patofiziologiju, 11000 Beograd, Dr Subotića 9, E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] 392 Vučević D, et al. Nikola Tesla and Medicine – Part II Abbreviations AIEE – American Institute of Electrical Engineers - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Acknowledgements This research is a part of the Project no. 175015, funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to Bra- nislav Slavnić, laboratory technician, for his generous and friendly assistance in collecting references used in writing this paper. Tesla Currents in Medicine A man is born to work, to suffer and to fight; he who doesn’t, must perish. Of all the frictional resi- stance, the one that most retards human movement is ignorance. If you don’t know how, observe the phe- Figure 1. Nikola Tesla - master of lightning – produced nomena of nature, they will give you clear answers by high frequency and high voltage currents in his lab and inspiration. The progress and development of in Colorado, 1899. Source: The Nikola Tesla Museum, man essentially depends on ingenuity. The most im- document no. MNT, VI/II, 38 portant product of the creative mind is an invention. Slika 1. Nikola Tesla kao gospodar munja, odnosno vi- Its final goal is an overall mastering of the mind over sokofrekvencijskih i visokonaponskih struja proizvede- the nature and the exploitation of all its forces for nih u njegovoj laboratoriji u Koloradu 1899. godine the needs of humankind. An inventor’s endeavor is Izvor: Muzej Nikole Tesle, dokument br. MNT, VI/II, 38 essentially life saving. Whether he harnesses forces, improves devices, or provides new comforts and con- 1889 to enter a systematic investigation of high frequen- veniences, he is adding to the safety of our existence. cy phenomena. This has proved itself so fruitful, since” Nikola Tesla [8]. During 1891 and 1892, Tesla designed and made several high-frequency electrical oscillators for medical Nikola Tesla and Electrotherapy purposes [8, 9]. As he said, the work was hard, and he Historians of medicine consider high-frequency struggled “to get from the Scylla to the Charybdis’’ [8]. and high voltage currents to be the most important Those were mainly high frequency generators (5-10000 Tesla’s contribution to medicine [1]. By the use of cycles per second), operating at tens of thousands these currents, called Tesla currents, it is possible to volts [3, 9]. Using these devices, Tesla performed ama- produce heat in tissues of the human body (electrot- zing experiments [6]. Showers of sparks and li- herapy) [2, 3]. Today, Tesla currents are used in me- ghtning erupted around him in his laboratory, making dical diathermy, where electrical energy is converted some fascinating scenes [6, 10, 11]. On these occasions, into heat and thus warms the tissue inside the body Tesla transformers raised the potential to several million [2–6]. These currents are used to treat disorders of the volts at a frequency of several million Hertz [6, 11]. Li- locomotor system, inflammatory processes and chro- ghtning bolts were flying around his lab a few meters in nic diseases, as well as in gynecology and surgery [3]. range [6]. Tesla liked sitting in a chair inside his lab ta- A similar procedure is called teslinization, where the king notes while the air all around him was filled with human body is subjected to a high frequency electric such streamers from his giant coil [6, 12] (Figure 1). field of Tesla currents generated by a Tesla coil (“skin In his experiments with his oscillating transfor- effect”) [2–7]. mer, Tesla connected his coil to a Geissler tube and Before Tesla currents were used, direct current elec- found it glowing intensely [6]. The luminescence trotherapy had been associated with painful muscle appeared in these tubes without direct connection spasms, and even fatalities [8]. At that time, there were of conductors with the source of electrical energy ways to generate extremely high-frequency damped [6, 13]. Therefore, in Tesla’s hands, light bulbs lit oscillations [5]. However, Tesla was the first who like in hands of a magician, which was a real attrac- succeeded, first using mechanical generators, and tion for observers [1, 6, 12–15] (Figure 2). then oscillator coils, to produce continuous, undam- Tesla conducted a number of experiments on himself ped high-frequency currents [5, 6]. using high-frequency and high-voltage currents, and Tesla explained his decision to start researching he was the first to report about their beneficial effects high-frequency currents, previously completely un- on the body [1–3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 16]. In the winter of 1891, known: “Some theoretical possibilities offered by cu- Tesla passed high-frequency and high-voltage current rrents of very high frequency and observations which I through his body without causing any muscle spasms causally made while pursuing experiments with alter- or tissue damage [1]. The scientific world was soon nating currents, as well as the stimulating influence of informed of the fascinating properties of Tesla’s the work of Hertz, determined me some time during currents [1, 16]. On February 21, 1891, Tesla pu- Med Pregl 2016; LXIX (11-12): 391-401. Novi Sad: novembar-decembar. 393 On May 20, 1891, Tesla was invited to give a lec- ture before the members of American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE), now the IEEE, at Co- lumbia University in New York [5, 8, 9].