Horatio Burt Williams (September 17, 1877 to November 1, 1955) was an American clinical

electrophysiologist Electrophysiology (from Greek , ''ēlektron'', "amber" etymology of "electron"">Electron#Etymology">etymology of "electron" , ''physis'', "nature, origin"; and , ''-logia'') is the branch of physiology that studies the electrical properties of bi ...

Life

Williams was born on September 17, 1877, in

Utica, New York Utica () is a Administrative divisions of New York, city in the Mohawk Valley and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The List of cities in New York, tenth-most-populous city in New York State, its population was 65,283 ...

. For college studies Williams chose

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

. He went to

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

to study medicine, graduating as

medical doctor A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

in 1905. As an assistant in physiology at

Cornell Medical School The Joan & Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University is Cornell University's biomedical research unit and medical school located in Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York. Weill Cornell Medicine is affiliated with N ...

, he began his work in electrophysiology. He published an article on electrocardiograms. Williams traveled to Holland to study the methods of

Willem Einthoven Willem Einthoven (21 May 1860 – 29 September 1927) was a Dutch doctor and physiologist. He invented the first practical electrocardiograph (ECG or EKG) in 1895 and received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1924 for it ("for the dis ...

in 1911. He constructed the first

string galvanometer A string galvanometer is a sensitive fast-responding measuring instrument that uses a single fine filament of wire suspended in a strong magnetic field to measure small currents. In use, a strong light source is used to illuminate the fine filament ...

in America, pioneered vectorcardiography, discovered the ventricular vulnerable period, and first determined the 60-Hz current required to produce

ventricular fibrillation Ventricular fibrillation (V-fib or VF) is an abnormal heart rhythm in which the ventricles of the heart quiver. It is due to disorganized electrical activity. Ventricular fibrillation results in cardiac arrest with loss of consciousness and no p ...

with body-surface electrodes.L. A. Geddes & A. Wal
Retrospectroscope: Horatio B. Williams and the first electrocardiographs made in the United States
from IEEE Xplor Williams also showed that ventricular

defibrillation Defibrillation is a treatment for life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, specifically ventricular fibrillation (V-Fib) and non-perfusing ventricular tachycardia (V-Tach). A defibrillator delivers a dose of electric current (often called a ''cou ...

could be achieved with body-surface electrodes using high-intensity 60-Hz current. In 1926 he was selected for the

Josiah Willard Gibbs Lectureship The Josiah Willard Gibbs Lectureship (also called the Gibbs Lecture) of the American Mathematical Society is an annually awarded mathematical prize, named in honor of Josiah Willard Gibbs. The prize is intended not only for mathematicians, but also ...

by the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

. The lecture was published by the

National Research Council National Research Council may refer to: * National Research Council (Canada), sponsoring research and development * National Research Council (Italy), scientific and technological research, Rome * National Research Council (United States), part of ...

a
Mathematics and the Biological Sciences
The text was also published in the

Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society The ''Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society'' is a quarterly mathematical journal published by the American Mathematical Society. Scope It publishes surveys on contemporary research topics, written at a level accessible to non-experts. I ...

.H. B. Williams (1927
Mathematics and the Biological Sciences

33(3): 273–94 via

Project Euclid Project Euclid is a collaborative partnership between Cornell University Library and Duke University Press which seeks to advance scholarly communication in theoretical and applied mathematics and statistics through partnerships with independent and ...

Williams expressed the hope, "So soon as it becomes possible to construct biological theories in mathematical form we may expect rapid progress."(page 293) Williams died at the age of 78 on November 1, 1955, at the Presbyterian Hospital in New York.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Horatio Burt 1877 births 1955 deaths Electrophysiologists People from Utica, New York Syracuse University alumni Cornell University faculty