Hans Berger and 100 years of the electroencephalogram: Insights into his life and his research on the “electrencephalogram

After studying medicine Hans Berger (1873-1941) spent his entire professional career at the Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Jena, Germany. Over many years, he developed independently and almost by himself a device for recording physiological brain activity in humans, which he named the "electrencephalogram". He himself dated the day of the first successful and reliable recording to 6 July 1924. Berger avoided publicity and only maintained close contact with a few confidants. These included his senior physician Rudolf Lemke, who accompanied him as a colleague throughout the 1930s and followed him as director of the hospital years later. Rudolf Lemke renamed the hospital the "Hans Berger Clinic" and also perpetuated his mentor in the form of painted portraits as well as a death mask, which he made of him immediately after Berger's tragic death. The name of the hospital was removed again in 2022 due to Berger's work at the Higher Hereditary Health Court; however, Berger's invention, the human electroencephalogram (EEG), remains a milestone in neurological and epileptological diagnostics even 100 years after its development.