Biography of Willem Einthoven
                     WILLEM 
EINTHOVEN
INTRODUCTION
Willem Einthoven, Dutch physiologist who was 
awarded the 1924 Nobel Prize for Physiology or 
Medicine for his discovery of the electrical properties 
of the heart through the electrocardiograph, which he 
developed as a practical clinical instrument and an 
important tool in the diagnosis of heart disease.
Source: www.britannica.com
BIRTH
Willem Einthoven was born on May 21, 1860, in 
Semarang on the island of Java, in the former Dutch 
East Indies (now Indonesia).
Source: www.nobelprize.org
FAMILY
His father was Jacob Einthoven, born and educated in 
Groningen, The Netherlands, an army medical officer 
in the Indies, who later became parish doctor in 
Semarang. His mother was Louise M.M.C. de Vogel, 
daughter of the then Director of Finance in the Indies. 
Willem was the eldest son, and the third child in a 
family of three daughters and three sons.
Source: www.nobelprize.org
EDUCATION
After having passed the “Hogere Burgerschool” 
(secondary school), he in 1878 entered the University 
of Utrecht as a medical student, intending to follow in 
his father’s footsteps. His exceptional abilities, 
however, began to develop in quite a different 
direction.
Source: www.nobelprize.org
EARLY LIFE
After being assistant to the ophthalmologist H. 
Snellen Sr. in the renowned eye-hospital “Gasthuis 
voor Ooglidders”, he made two investigations, both of 
which attracted widespread interest. The first was 
carried out after Einthoven had gained his 
“candidaat” diploma (approximately equivalent to the 
B.Sc. degree), under the direction of the anatomist W. 
Koster, and was entitled “Quelques remarques sur le 
mécanisme de l’articulation du coude” (Some 
remarks on the elbow joint).
Source: www.nobelprize.org
CAREER
Einthoven accepted a position as professor of 
physiology at the University of Leiden in 1886, and 
the same year he married his cousin Frédérique 
Jeanne Louise de Vogel, with whom he would have 
four children. His professional interests were focused 
on optics, respiration and the heart.
Source: www.nobelprize.org
ELECTRICAL 
ACTIVITY OF THE 
HEART
Around 1889, Einthoven attended the First 
International Congress of Physiologists, where he saw 
British physiologist Augustus Waller demonstrate the 
use of a Lippmann capillary electrometer to record 
the electrical activity of the heart.
Source: nationalmaglab.org
CAPILLARY 
ELECTROMETER
The capillary electrometer recorded potential 
variations, but because of its lengthy adjustment 
time, the measurements made by the device did not 
directly reflect the timing of potential changes in the 
beating heart muscle. Einthoven undertook an 
analysis of the electrometer and the curves it 
produced, resulting in his formulation of a means of 
correcting the instrument’s results in order to obtain 
an accurate record of the cardiac cycle. 
Source: nationalmaglab.org
VARIATIONS IN 
ELECTRICAL 
IMPULSES
In 1895 Einthoven identified five deflections of 
electrical current that appear in an 
electrocardiogram, which he realized corresponded to 
variations in electrical impulses at certain points 
during the cardiac cycle and which he designated P, 
Q, R, S and T.
Source: nationalmaglab.org
NOBEL PRIZE IN 
PHYSIOLOGY OR 
MEDICINE
For his discovery of the mechanism of the 
electrocardiogram, Einthoven was awarded the Nobel 
Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1924. During his 
acceptance of the great honor, he modestly 
acknowledged the contributions of many others who 
had helped make the work possible. 
Source: nationalmaglab.org