Adolf Beck (1 January 1863,

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 159 ...

– August 1942,

Lwów Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...

) was a Polish physician of and professor of

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemic ...

at the University of Lwów. He was born on 1 January 1863, in

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

, into a poor Jewish family. During his academic career, Beck supported himself as a private tutor. Upon graduating with distinction from the gymnasium of his native city in 1884, he entered the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. In 1888, while still a medical student, Beck gained the prize of the university by a paper on the excitability of a

nerve A nerve is an enclosed, cable-like bundle of nerve fibers (called axons) in the peripheral nervous system. A nerve transmits electrical impulses. It is the basic unit of the peripheral nervous system. A nerve provides a common pathway for the ...

, afterward published under the title, "O pobudliwości różnych miejsc tego samego nerwu" (On the Excitability of a Nerve at Different Points). In 1890 he received the degree of

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...

, and in the same year published the results of his extensive research on electrical processes in the brain. His papers on this subject, "Die Bestimmung der Localisation des Gehirn- und Rückenmarksfunctionen Vermittelst der Electrischen Erscheinungen," 1890, and "Weitere Untersuchungen über die Electrischen Erscheinungen des Hirnrinde der Affen und Hunde," 1891 (in collaboration with Napoleon Cybulski), attracted wide attention in

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, and

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, and won for him a prominent position among students of physiology. In 1889 Beck was appointed assistant in the physiological laboratory of the Jagiellonian University and he remained in this position until 1894, when he became privatdocent on the presentation of his thesis "Ueber die Physiologie der Reflexes." In the following year he was offered a chair of physiology as associate professor in the newly created medical department of the University of Lemberg and in 1897 was appointed professor in the same institution. Beck is considered one of the pioneers of

electroencephalography Electroencephalography (EEG) is a method to record an electrogram of the spontaneous electrical activity of the brain. The biosignals detected by EEG have been shown to represent the postsynaptic potentials of pyramidal neurons in the neocor ...

(EEG). Beck has received many marks of distinction from medical societies in recognition of his scientific investigations. His numerous contributions, published in German and in Polish, belong almost exclusively to the domain of physiology. To the investigations represented by these publications should be added the extensive work of research conducted on similar lines in the Physiological Institute of the University of Lemberg under Beck's immediate supervision. Beck was a member of the Polish Academy of Learning in Kraków. He was the first physiologist awarded with the Medal and a title of an Honorary Member of the Polish Physiological Society (Polskie Towarzystwo Fizjologiczne).Polskie Towarzystwo Fizjologiczne
He committed suicide in August 1942 in the Janowska concentration camp.

Works

* "Researches on the Sense of Taste in a Tongueless Human Being" (with Napoleon Cybulski) (in Polish) 1887 * "Die Ströme der Nervencentren," 1890 * "On the Present State of the Theory of Localizing the Functions of the Brain," (in Polish), 1892 * "Hermann Helmholtz " 1894 * "On the Vital Processes and Methods for Their Investigation," (in Polish), 1895; with Cybulski * "Further Investigations on the Electrical Processes in the Brain" (in Polish), 1896 * "Dreams and Their Causes" in Polish, 1896 * "Die Erregbarkeit Verschiedener Nervenstellen" 1897 * "Zur Untersuchung der Erregbarkeit der Nerven" 1898 * "On Color-Blindness, Artificially Produced," in Polish and in German, 1899. * "Zur Lehre Munk's über Beginn und Reihenfolge in der Ausbreitung der Bewegungen bei Rückenmarksreflexen, wie bei Tätigkeit der sogenannten „Prinzipalzentren“" 1910 (with

Gustav Bikeles Gustaw Bikeles (September 1, 1861 – November 4, 1918) was an Austro-Hungarian physician and pioneer of neurophysiology. Bikeles sign is a clinical test used for determining neurological damage in the upper arm. Bikeles was born in Lemberg (then ...

) * "Die sogenannten Berührungsreflexe Munk's und die reflektorische Zehenbeugung bei Reizung der Fusssohle" 1910 (with Gustav Bikeles).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beck, Adolf 1863 births 1942 deaths Polish physiologists Austrian physiologists Austro-Hungarian Jews Jagiellonian University alumni University of Lviv faculty Polish Austro-Hungarians Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) Physicians from Kraków 20th-century Polish people 1942 suicides People who died in Janowska concentration camp Suicides by Jews during the Holocaust Polish Jews who died in the Holocaust Suicides in Poland