Einthoven Electrocardiograph, 1915

Einthoven Electrocardiograph at the History of Pharmacy Collecion in Cluj-Napoca

Detail of the above

Detail of the above

The Einthoven electrocardiograph, produced in 1915 in Paris by manufacturer G. Boulitte, is the most significant exhibit of the medical equipment collection at the History of Pharmacy Museum in Cluj-Napoca. The first machine of this type was invented in 1903 by Willem Einthoven who won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1924. The machine on display, the size of a desk, has a single lead (contemporary ones have 12) and recorded the electric activity of the heart with the aid of electrodes placed on the skin. This item might well be the oldest electrocardiograph preserved from Romania. The machine, very significant for the history of medical technology in Transylvania and Romania in general, has been used and eventually donated to the museum by Prof. Dr. Ioan Zagrean from Cuj-Napoca.
The first mobile EKG machine was invented in 1937 and such later items are exhibited in the same area of the hall.