Edward Lambert (1915–July 27, 2003) was an American neurophysiologist, best known for his description of the

Lambert–Eaton myasthenic syndrome Lambert–Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS) is a rare autoimmune disorder characterized by muscle weakness of the limbs. Around 60% of those with LEMS have an underlying malignancy, most commonly small-cell lung cancer; it is therefore regarded ...

and regarded as one of the founders of

electromyography Electromyography (EMG) is a technique for evaluating and recording the electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles. EMG is performed using an instrument called an electromyograph to produce a record called an electromyogram. An electromyog ...

Early life and education

Edward Howard Lambert was born in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

; his mother was Norwegian and his father was Finnish-Scottish from Montana. During the Depression the family moved to Chicago. He was always interested in biology as a youth. After two years at Morton Junior College he received BS, MS, MD and PhD degrees from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

. After an internship at

Michael Reese Hospital Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center was an American hospital located in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1881, Michael Reese Hospital was a major research and teaching hospital and one of the oldest and largest ...

in Chicago, he obtained a PhD in physiology studying the effects of oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations on blood pressure and the vasomotor system.

Medical career

In 1943, his PhD thesis caught the attention of the head of the Aero Medical Unit, a top secret research lab at the Mayo Clinic and he was invited to join the team. The lab investigated the physiologic effects of high g-forces causing blackout and unconsciousness in pilots. Lambert had an interest in the physiological problems associated with aviation; spanning World War II, he spent a total of 10 years in this area. To be able to study its effects, they built the first human

centrifugal machine A centrifuge is a device that uses centrifugal force to separate various components of a fluid. This is achieved by spinning the fluid at high speed within a container, thereby separating fluids of different densities (e.g. cream from milk) or l ...

in the country. The research team doctors, risking their own personal safety and fitted with gradually improving

g-suit A g-suit, or anti-''g'' suit, is a flight suit worn by aviators and astronauts who are subject to high levels of acceleration force ( g). It is designed to prevent a black-out and g-LOC (g-induced loss of consciousness) caused by the blood pool ...

s, spun in the centrifuge. Lambert, described as a principal investigator and a key member of the team, was a human

guinea pig The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus''), also known as the cavy or domestic cavy (), is a species of rodent belonging to the genus ''Cavia'' in the family Caviidae. Breeders tend to use the word ''cavy'' to describe the ani ...

in these studies, with repeated episodes of loss of consciousness.

Earl Wood Earl Howard Wood (January 1, 1912 – March 18, 2009) was an American cardiopulmonary physiologist who helped invent the G-suit, brought heart catheterization into a clinical reality and introduced dynamic volumetric computed tomography for t ...

, director of the lab, noted that Lambert had the most time of any of the team in the machine. The pilots were at skeptical of the first

Mayo Clinic The Mayo Clinic () is a nonprofit American academic medical center focused on integrated health care, education, and research. It employs over 4,500 physicians and scientists, along with another 58,400 administrative and allied health staff, ...

g-suits and real world experiments were needed to convince them of their safety. Lambert was assigned as director of the experimental program to allay their doubts. Again, as a human guinea pig, he went up many times in a

Douglas Dauntless The Douglas SBD Dauntless is a World War II American naval scout plane and dive bomber that was manufactured by Douglas Aircraft from 1940 through 1944. The SBD ("Scout Bomber Douglas") was the United States Navy's main carrier-based scout/dive ...

dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...

with an Army pilot, flying in spirals over

Rochester, Minnesota Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on rolling bluffs on the Zumbro River's south fork in Southeast Minnesota, the city is the home and birthplace of the renowned Mayo Clinic. Acco ...

, to determine if g-suits were effective. Without a suit he had 27 episodes of unconsciousness, with a total of 7.7 minutes of lack of perfusion, while the suited pilot was unaffected. This suit was worn by US pilots towards the end of the World War II, and the pilots found it to be quite effective. For his contribution to the war effort he received the

Presidential Certificate of Merit The President's Certificate of Merit was created June 6, 1946 by Executive Order 9734 signed by US President Harry Truman, "for award by the President or at his direction to any civilian who on or after December 7, 1941'' (see Attack on Pearl Harbor ...

in 1946. When the war ended he transitioned to the second major phase of his research career, the electrophysiology of neuromuscular disease. In 1947, Lambert, building his own machine, founded the first

lab in the United States and, soon after, the first EMG training program. His research began in 1948, with the application of EMG to myasthenia gravis. In 1956, he and colleague Lee Eaton were the first to describe the clinical and EMG characteristics of the disease now known as

. This was the first pre-synaptic disease found, differentiating it from myasthenia gravis. With over 280 publications, his contributions spanned the field of peripheral neurology. His early studies established EMG as a basic neurological tool. With Peter Dyck, he defined many forms of neuropathy and with Andrew Engel he did the same for myopathies. With his wife Vanda Lennon, he helped define the immnunogenesis of myasthenia gravis. Lambert mentored generations of EMG fellows, many of whom became leaders in the field of peripheral neurology; this has been called his greatest legacy. He had a mandatory retirement from the Mayo at age 70, but continued doing research and projects until age 83. He is frequently regarded as the father of EMG.

Honors

*Presidential Certificate of Merit, 1956 *American Association of Electromyography & Electrodiagnosis annual lectorship named in his honor, 1976 *American Association of Electromyography & Electrodiagnosis Lifetime Achievement Award, 1995

Personal

Lambert was married to Vanda Lennon from 1975 until his death in 2003. They met when he flew to the Salk Institute in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

, to advise her on a research project. They married 14 months later, and in 1978 she relocated to the Mayo Clinic. They had 57 collaborative publications.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lambert, Edward H. Neurophysiologists Mayo Clinic people People from Rochester, Minnesota University of Illinois College of Medicine alumni 1915 births 2003 deaths