IFMBE Otto Schmitt Award to Dr Herman Schwan

The First Otto Schmitt Award was given in Chicago. This award is given for "exceptional contributions to the advancement of the field of medical and biological engineering" and the person has to "be a memberof an IFMBE affiliated organisation". The first recipient was Dr Herman Schwan. The award was presented by Dr Dov Jaron as the chairman of the Awards Committee. Below is the citation read at the awards ceremony.

Dr Schwan is considered as one of the pioneers of biomedical engineering in the United States. His unceasing efforts during the formative years of the profession also had considerable impact globally. He has made enormous contributions to the initiation and development of the field. His most noteworthy services to the profession include: pioneering and continued contributions to the development of biomedical engineering since 1952 through extensive service on national and international societal committees, government boards (NIH consultant and member to several study sections, member GMS Institute Program Project Committee, HEW National Advisory Environmental Health Council) and consultation, and his organisation of unusually successful national and international meetings (1959, 60, 61, 65). He directed one of the first and most successful educational programs in biomedical engineering in the US. Dr Schwan became one of the first biomedical engineers to be recognised for his many research and service contributions and elected to the US National Academy of Engineering. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), the American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS), and an honorary member of the German Biophysical Society. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in 1986.   

Herman P. Schwan was born in Aachen, Germany in 1915. He obtained his PhD in Biophysics at the University of Frankfurt in 1940 with distinction, his teaching certificate at the university and his professional doctorate (Dr. habil) in the fields of physics and biophysics in 1946.   

Dr Schwan worked in 1936-37 and again in 1938 with Telefunken on high frequency and microwave measuring techniques. He became a research associate with the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics in Frankfurt in 1937, an assistant professor with the University of Frankfurt and then associate director of the Max Planck Institute in 1946. In 1947 Dr Schwan came to the United States, working at the Aeromedical Equipment Laboratory of the US Naval Base in Philadelphia. He joined the University of Pennsylvania in 1950, holding in succession various faculty appointments in the Medical School and the School of Engineering. In 1952 he was appointed Head of the Electromedical Division of the Moore School and in 1961 Chairman of the GSAS Group on Biomedical Electronic Engineering.   

His best known scientific contribitions include:

• non-ionising radiation;in particular, research on the interaction of elecromagneticfields with biomatter and development of radiation standards of safe exposure to microwaves accepted throughout the western world;
• extensive contributions to present understanding of the electrical and acoustic properties of life matter and development of pertinent precision techniques measurement;
• electrical properties of membranes;
• principles which govern the linear and non-linear properties of electrodes in both frequency and time domain and application of suchprinciples in biomedical research;
• ultrasonic properties of biological systems including tissues, cell sus-pensions and macromolecules.

Dr Schwan has published almost 300 scientific papers, presented about 350 national and international lectures and received a large number of awards in recognition of his contributions. He has also been recognised for his contribitions to the development of biomedical engineering and for the development of training programs in this field in the United States.