Georg Bekesy Hungarian-American physicist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1961 Date of Birth: 03.06.1899 Country: Hungary

1. Biography of Georg von Békésy
2. Discoveries and Contributions
3. Later Years and Honors

Biography of Georg von Békésy

Georg von Békésy (1899–1972) was a Hungarian-American physicist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1961. He was born on June 3, 1899 in Budapest into a diplomatic family. Due to his father's work, Békésy received his early education in schools in Munich, Constantinople, Budapest, and Zurich. In 1916, he enrolled at the University of Bern. However, his studies were interrupted when he joined the army in 1918. After his military service, Békésy resumed his education at the University of Budapest. In 1923, he defended his doctoral dissertation.

After completing his university studies, Békésy began working for the Ministry of Postal Services, where he remained until 1946. He spent a year interning at the Central Laboratory of Siemens and Halske A.G. in Berlin, which was a major center for the development of telecommunications at the time. Békésy's work in the research laboratory of the Ministry of Communications involved improving the newly established international telephone communication in Hungary. He discovered that the weak point was the telephone membranes, which distorted the signals. This led him to study the structure of the human ear, and he became a frequent visitor to local morgues, observing autopsies. By the mid-1920s, the structure of the ear had been well studied. The main challenge for Békésy was to solve the purely mechanical question of how the main membrane vibrates under the influence of sound pressure on the eardrum. At that time, it was believed that the mechanical properties of ear tissues changed very quickly after death, making it impossible to study the properties of the inner ear on corpses. Békésy demonstrated that all changes occurring in the inner ear were related to dehydration, allowing the mechanical properties of the inner ear to be studied by placing it in a moist environment.

Discoveries and Contributions

Békésy's experiments focused on the perception of sounds of different pitches. There were four theories about how the ear perceived sound. The first theory claimed that sound caused vibrations in a specific section of the membrane, while the second theory proposed that sound generated a traveling wave. The third theory also advocated for a wave, but suggested that it was a standing wave. The proponents of the fourth theory believed that the entire membrane vibrated. Békésy's experiments showed that all the theories had some validity.

He developed a model of a rubber membrane that demonstrated, in a visual way, that the vibrations of the membrane occurred in the form of a traveling wave. A wave of a certain frequency caused all parts of the membrane to vibrate, but one area vibrated more strongly than the others. The higher the frequency of the sound, the closer the vibrating area was to the middle ear. Information was transmitted to the brain through the auditory nerves, enabling the recognition of sounds of different pitches. In 1939, he became a professor in the Department of Experimental Physics at the University of Budapest. In 1946, Békésy emigrated to Sweden, where he worked at the Karolinska Institute and the Technical Institute in Stockholm for a year. During this time, he developed a new type of audiometer.

In 1947, Békésy moved to the United States, where he continued his research at the Harvard University laboratory. As a result, he was able to construct a mechanical model of the inner ear. By the late 1950s, he had fully recreated the biomechanics of the cochlea, significantly advancing otosurgery and enabling surgeons to implant artificial eardrums. In 1961, Békésy was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries of the physical mechanisms of stimulation within the cochlea.

Later Years and Honors

From 1966 until the end of his life, Békésy worked at the University of Hawaii. In addition to the Nobel Prize, he received the Denker Prize in Otology (1931), the Shambaugh Prize in Otology (1950), the Leibniz Medal from the Berlin Academy of Sciences (1937), an award from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1946), the Howard Crosby Warren Medal from the Society of Experimental Psychologists (1955), the Gold Medal of the American Otological Society (1957), and the Gold Medal of the Acoustical Society of America (1961). He also received honorary doctorates from the University of Münster and the University of Bern.