Herman Schwan

Background

He was born in Aachen, Germany, and died in his home Radnor, Pennsylvania. Schwann was born from a science-influenced family. His father Wilhelm Schwann was a science and mathematics teacher, and mother Meta was a physics teacher.

Education

He invariably excelled in physics and mathematics and graduated from gymnasium (German high school) at Göttingen in distinction in 1934. He received Doctor of Philosophy degrees in physics and biophysics in 1940 and 1946 from the University of Frankfurt-am-Main.

Career

He continued to study mathematics, physics, and engineering in Göttingen, and then biophysics in Frankfurt. He was with the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics in Frankfurt from 1937 to 1947. In 1947 he emigrated to America, where he joined the University of Pennsylvania"s School of Medicine.

Achievements

• During his career Schwan did much to improve the emerging field of biomedical engineering, developed its first Doctor of Philosophy program, and produced more than 300 technical papers and gave countless lectures. He is best known for many biophysical studies related to electrical properties of cells and tissues, and on nonthermal mechanisms of interaction of fields with biological systems He innovative works include the large low-frequency dielectric dispersion that is found in biological material, and electrically induced forces on cells. He was the pioneer in recognising the possible health hazards of nonionizing electromagnetic fields. He proposed a safe limit for human exposure to microwave energy of 100 West/m2 (based on thermal analysis) to the United States. Navy in 1953, which became the basis for the present Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers C95.1 safety standards used in the western world. Schwan received the 1962 Philadelphia Section Achievement Award of the Institute of Radio Engineers, the 1967 W. J. Morlock Award of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the 1974 Boris Rajewsky Prize for Biophysics, the 1980 United States. Senior Scientist Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He was a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received the 1983 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Edison Medal, and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a Foreign Scientific Member of the Max Planck Society. In 1985 he was awarded the first d"Arsonval Award of the Bioelectromagnetics Society. The Herman Schwan prize of the International Conference on Electrical Bioimpedance (ICEBE) was initiated in 2001 in his honour and is awarded annually.

Membership

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.