Erna Gibbs
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Early Life
Erna Leonhardt-Gibbs was born in 1904 in Germany[1]. In 1928 she left Germany and immigrated to the United States[1].
Research and Career
Upon arrival in the United States in 1928, Erna Leonhardt began work at Harvard University with Dr. William Lennox, measuring blood constituents in patients with epilepsy and normal controls, with Frederic Gibbs joining shortly afterward in 1929 [1]. Erna and Frederic got married in 1930 (Erna Leonhardt becoming Erna Leonhardt-Gibbs), and worked collaboratively on projects thereafter[2].
In 1931, the Gibbses moved to the University of Pennsylvania to work for the Johnson Foundation [3]. There, they worked together on a blood recorder machine and subsequently were the first to demonstrate that epileptic seizures were caused by electrical activity, and not a sudden loss of blood flow to the brain[4], as was the leading theory at the time [3] [4].
Though the EEG was primitive in the 1930s, having only one channel, the Gibbses wanted to try recording in epilepsy patients. In 1935, they published the first paper on the EEG patterns of human epilepsy patients[3]. Frederic Gibbs approached Albert Grass, who worked at MIT, about designing a three-channel EEG machine[3]. That summer, the Gibbses attended the International Congress of Physiologists in Leningrad and Moscow and visited Hans Berger, the inventor of the EEG[5]. The three-channel EEG was finished by the time that they returned, and they were able to advance their research further.
In the following years of research from 1935 to 1941, the Gibbses worked on creating the first Atlas on Electroencephalography, a manual on patterns to help other EEG researchers identify patterns[3][1]. Erna Gibbs traced more than 100,000 EEGs for the Atlas [3] and methodologically maintained the EEG and clinical records[1].
In 1944, the Gibbses moved to Chicago to work for the Illinois Neuropsychiatric Institute[3]. Erna Gibbs began training technicians and scientists to read and record unipolar EEGs [3].
Frederic Gibbs won the Mead Johnson Award in 1939 for the Gibbses work on the epilepsy blood recorder machine [6]and the Lasker Award in 1957 for their work on epilepsy[7]. Erna Gibbs is not listed for either award, despite her contributions. Erna Gibbs was named “Woman of the Year” by the American Women’s Association in 1958 [4].
Publications
Erna Gibbs co-authored the Atlas of Electroencephalography / Vol. 2, Epilepsy, which was printed in 1952[8].
References
- ^ a b c d e refname=Erna Leonhardt Gibbs ObituaryLennox, Margaret. "Erna Leonhardt Gibbs Obituary" (PDF). International League Against Epilepsy. Raven Press. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
- ^ Stone, James; Hughes, John. "Early History of Electroencephalography and Establishment of the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society" (PDF). Retrieved 24 April 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Demeter, Catherine Rich (October 2016). "Frederic Andrews Gibbs, M.D., EEG Pioneer". Clinical EEG and Neuroscience. 47 (4): 255–259. doi:10.1177/1550059416669100.
- ^ a b c "In Memoriam Erna Leonhardt Gibbs 1906–1987" (PDF). Retrieved 28 April 2024.
- ^ Steven J. Zottoli. "The Origins of The Grass Foundation" (PDF). web.archive.org.
- ^ "Past Award Recipients – Society for Pediatric Research".
- ^ Hofschneider, Mark. "Research on epilepsy". Lasker Foundation.
- ^ "Atlas of electroencephalography / Vol. 2, Epilepsy | WorldCat.org". search.worldcat.org. Retrieved 28 April 2024.