Baldev Singh (6 April 19042 February 1998) was an Indian

neurologist Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...

. He was best known for collaborative works with neurologists Jacob Chandy,

Balasubramaniam Ramamurthi Ramamurthi Balasubramaniam (30 January 1922 – 13 December 2003) was an Indian neurosurgeon, author, editor, a pioneer in neurosurgery in India and often recognized as the Father of Neurosurgery of India. He set up the Department of Neurosurgery ...

and S. T. Narasimhan and together they have been credited to be pioneers in development of

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrica ...

surgery in India. They also helped in establishing the

Neurological Society of India The Neurological Society of India (NSI) is the apex body representing neuroscientists of the country. It was founded in 1951 by Jacob Chandy, Balasubramaniam Ramamurthi, S. T. Narasimhan, and Baldev Singh, who together have been credited to be ...

in 1951 at Madras (now

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

). After training in the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

, he returned to India and established himself at Delhi. He was presented with the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

for his contributions in the field of medicine.

Works

Singh was born on 6 April 1904 in a well-to-do family. In school, he won various scholarships and further went to join the King Edward Medical College, Lahore in 1922 and graduated in 1927. He developed interest in neuroanatomy and later went to National Hospital at Queen Square in Central London. At the National Hospital, Singh was associated with various notable neurologists like

Russell Brain, 1st Baron Brain Walter Russell Brain, 1st Baron Brain (23 October 1895 – 29 December 1966) was a British neurologist. He was principal author of the standard work of neurology, ''Brain's Diseases of the Nervous System'', and longtime editor of the homonymo ...

and MacDonald Critchley. Singh returned to India in 1931 and set up his medical practice in a village near Amritsar. With study of

Alpha wave Alpha waves, or the alpha rhythm, are neural oscillations in the frequency range of 8–12 Hz likely originating from the synchronous and coherent (in phase or constructive) electrical activity of thalamic pacemaker cells in humans. Historica ...

, also called Berger's rhythm in memory of

Hans Berger Hans Berger (21 May 1873 – 1 June 1941) was a German psychiatrist. He is best known as the inventor of electroencephalography (EEG) in 1924, which is a method used for recording the electrical activity of the brain, commonly described in terms ...

, Singh undertook a training in electronics. In the 1940s, he developed an apparatus to record the electrical activity of the brains of laboratory animals. In 1950, he moved to Chicago and studied epilepsy patients of neurologist

Percival Bailey Percival Sylvester Bailey (May 9, 1892 – August 10, 1973) was an American neuropathologist, neurosurgeon and psychiatrist who was a native of rural southern Illinois. He originally studied to become a teacher at Southern Illinois Normal Unive ...

taking their

EEG Electroencephalography (EEG) is a method to record an electrogram of the spontaneous electrical activity of the brain. The biosignals detected by EEG have been shown to represent the postsynaptic potentials of pyramidal neurons in the neocortex ...

s. The first department of neurology in India was established in 1949 by Jacob Chandy at the

Christian Medical College Christian Medical College, Vellore, widely known as CMC, Vellore, is a private, Christian community-run medical school, hospital and research institute. This Institute includes a network of primary, secondary and tertiary care hospitals in a ...

Vellore Vellore (English: ), also spelt as Velur (), is a city and the administrative headquarters of Vellore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Palar River in the northeastern part of Tamil Nadu and is separ ...

in the

Madras State Madras State was a state of India during the mid-20th century. At the time of its formation in 1950, it included the whole of present-day Tamil Nadu (except Kanyakumari district), Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema, the Malabar region of North and ...

(now

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

). Singh was unable to find suitable job at Amritsar or Delhi and he hence joined Chandy in 1950. Singh's work with Bailey helped him organize a surgery program at Vellore for epilepsy. On 25 August 1952, Chandy performed the first surgery in India on a 19-year-old boy suffering with infantile right hemiplegia. Singh supervised the EEG records of the patient during the surgery. In 1950,

started the neurological department at the Madras General Hospital where S. T. Narasimhan was also associated. Ramamurthi performed his first surgery in epilepsy in 1954 and Narasimhan helped with EEG recording. Singh, Chandy, Ramamurthi and Narasimhan have been credited for pioneering the epilepsy surgery in India. They also established the Neurological Society of India in 1951. Until then, all the disciples of neurology were not associated together as the field was still in an emerging state post independence of India in 1947. Singh headed the newly inaugurated neurological department at the Tirath Ram Shah Hospital, New Delhi in 1954. He also taught at the

Lady Hardinge Medical College , mottoeng = Through Adversity to Stars , established = 1916 , founder = Charles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst , director = , faculty = , students = , undergrad = 240 , postgrad ...

and Willingdon Hospital (now called

Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (formerly known as Willingdon Hospital) is a government hospital in New Delhi, India. The hospital was founded, with 54 beds, in 1932 by the British Raj for their own government staff. In 1954, in the newly inde ...

) in Delhi. In 1964, as Singh was beyond his retirement age, he was invited for three years to help in establishing the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at the

All India Institute of Medical Sciences Delhi All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, also known as AIIMS Delhi, is a public medical research university and hospital in New Delhi, India. The institute is governed by the AIIMS Act, 1956 and operates autonomously under the Minis ...

(AIIMS). He was also an Emeritus Professor at the Department of Physiology at AIIMS. In 1972, the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

presented him with the

award, the third-highest civilian award, for his work in the field of medicine. He died on 2 February 1998 and was popularly called "grandfather neuron".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Baldev 1904 births 1998 deaths Indian neurologists King Edward Medical University alumni Medical doctors from Punjab, India Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in medicine 20th-century Indian medical doctors