A HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN, EVOLUTION, AND IMPACT OF ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHY

The invention of the electrocardiograph by Dutch physiologist Willem E inthoven in 1902 gave physicians a powerful tool to help them diagnose various forms of heart disease, especially arrhythmias and acute myoc ardial infarction. The discovery of x-rays in 1895 and the invention o f the electrocardiograph 7 years later inaugurated a new era in which various machines and technical procedures gradually replaced the physi cian's unaided senses and the stethoscope as the primary tools of card iac diagnosis. These sophisticated new approaches provided objective i nformation about the structure and function of the heart in health and disease. This review summarizes the origins and development of electr ocardiography and addresses its role in defining cardiology as a speci alty.