Science & Education10: 149–152, 2001.© 2001Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

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Georg von Békésy, Nobel Laureate in Physiology,Experimental Physicist and Art Collector was Born100 Years Ago

LÁSZLÓ KOVÁCSP.O.BOX 170, Szombathely, Hungary H-9701

Abstract. Georg von Békésy was born one hundred years ago, on July 3, 1899 in Budapest, Hungary.He graduated from the University of Bern as a chemist in 1921. He received a Ph.D. in physics inBudapest under the supervision of Charles Tangl in 1923. From 1926 to 1947 he worked in Hungary’sbest-equipped research laboratory, in the Postal Experimental Institution as a postal engineer. Here helead basic physical research on ear preparations and on realistic models of the ear, made by himself,to investigate the structure and the working of the ear and, first of all, the inner ear (cochlea). Forthe results of his research in Hungary, Békésy received the Nobel Prize in Physiology in 1961. Thepaper also introduces Georg von Békésy as a passionate art collector and expert.

1. Introduction

A Hungarian tourist might be surprised if he (or she) made a visit to the HawaiianIslands, the 50th state of the United States of America. The Békésy Laboratory canbe found on the northern part of the capitol Honolulu, which is situated on OahuIsland, amidst the forest-covered mountains - a humble-looking but magnificentbuilding. The building’s original name was The Laboratory of Sensory Sciences,but recently it is The Békésy Laboratory of Neurobiology of the University ofHawaii, 1993 East-West Road.

This research site was established by The Hawaii Telephone Company in 1966especially for Békésy as a foundational department, fully equipped for the use ofthe university.

In the hall one can see three Békésy portraits: one of the spiritual founder,the official name-giver, one of the white-gowned experimenter with his apparatusamong the photos of his former colleagues. A painting is displayed above the in-formation tablet, which tells us the recent researchers’ names and room numbersfor the convenience of the guests.

An unrequited, notwithstanding splendid, service awaits the ones who enter:a special copy of the 1974Annual Review of PhysiologyVol. 36, entitled ‘SomeBiophysical Experiments from Fifty Years Ago’, is presented to each guest. Theoriginal manuscript of this article was sent to the publisher in April, 1972 two

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months before Békésy died. This deeply philosophical writing, full of anecdotes,not only presents biophysical experiments of 50 years but also encounters thewhole life of Békésy. We are going to quote it later several times.

2. The Opinion of Békésy on the History of Science

Some researchers are of the opinion that it is no longer necessary to study thehistory of science because science had progressed so fast and always linearlythat earlier experiences are of no value. I do not believe this, but believe,like many of my otological colleagues, that scientific progress is more like aspiral, as in the cochlea of the ear, which always progresses in one direction,but with many ups and downs and with many repetitions of earlier forms.(Békésy 1974, p. 2)

He had a keen interest to read the history of science, especially of medicine.It deals with the fight between man and nature, it consists of successes and fail-ures. We often find in Békésy’s papers anecdotal, philosophical and art-historicalcomments.

3. The Birthplace of Békésy

Békésy was born among the Buda hills of Budapest at 1 Pauler Street. This housewas demolished in 1968, giving place to a modern building. A tablet on the wallof the building informs us that this place used to be the Philadelphia Café, thefavourite meeting-point of writers.

In the Budapest collection of the Szabó Ervin Library one can find a photo ofthe original house, on which the thorough watcher can see the trees of the HorváthGarden and the tympana ornamented entrance of the Buda Theatre. The later house(19 Fö Street) in which Békésy dwelled was marked by a marble tablet by the LocalGovernment of Budavár in honour of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Békésy.

4. School Years in Bavaria and in Switzerland

Dr. Sándor Békésy, the father of Georg, was a Hungarian diplomat so he livedin several countries. When young Békésy was a pupil the Deutsches Museum inMunich was already established. As Békésy wrote: “Munich had a museum for thehistory of science, unique at that time, and many museums for fine arts” (Békésy1974, p. 3). At that time Békésy could not have thought that later on one would findseveral biographies on him and other works by him in the Library of the DeutschesMuseum.

The Békésy family lived in the Königin Strasse on the west edge of the EnglishPark, in the embassy quarter near the Royal Residence, the Bavarian Library andthe University.

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Békésy described the Bavaria of his time as “. . . formally it was a kingdom, butin behaviour it was perhaps the best democracy I have ever seen. The people knewhow to live and how to let other people live, and how to work” (Békésy 1974, p. 3).

In Switzerland life was more disciplined. The teachers, following the Pestalozzimethod, taught simply and practically. Békésy studied in a private institution calledMinerva in Zurich. He graduated from grammar school in 1916 and entered thechemistry faculty of the University of Bern. The greatest impact on him was aprofessor “who was disliked by everybody and who hated to teach. . . but he wasteaching his own experiences” (Békésy 1974, p. 7). Besides, Békésy learned fromhim the love of books and the practical usage of the library.

He would have gained the knowledge rather in the manner of the anecdotalteaching method of the Arabs applied around 1200–1400 AD than with the methodoffered by the university at that time. “The anecdotes seemed to be successfulbecause they rounded up in small, meaningful units what the memory can use andkeep” (Békésy 1974, p.7). Békésy finished university in 1921.

5. Nobel Prize Winning Experiments in Hungary

Békésy received his Ph.D. in 1923 at the University of Budapest under the supervi-sion of Charles Tangl, working out an optical method – today called an interferencemicroscope – to determine the diffusion coefficient in a very short time (sometimesless than three minutes).

At his first working place at the Postal Experimental Institution (1926–1947),Békésy faced the question of where to invest the research funds so that they canimprove the telephone transmission quality. Should they improve the cable networkor the telephone devices? According to Békésy, only the ear can serve the rightanswer to the question. As he also pointed out in his Nobel lecture, a brief mech-anical click to the eardrum causes shorter transient time, as if abruptly connectingthe telephone receiver’s membrane to direct current.

These researches led him step by step from the eardrum via the behaviour ofthe tiny bones of the middle ear to the understanding of the mechanism of the innerear, which was the discovery of the travelling waves on the basilar membrane ofthe cochlea. The explanation rests on basic physical principles. “It was obvious thatwhenever a system changes its mechanical properties continuously there is alwaysa travelling wave. It is the only wave form by which energy is transmitted” (Békésy1974, p. 11)

Békésy used physical methods also for measuring the characteristics of the flex-ibility of the membrane, the density and the viscosity of the liquid in the cochleaso that he could build his functionally true models of the cochlea in possession ofprecise data. Several, still up-to-date hearing improving operations are based on hisbasic research.

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6. The University Professor

Békésy taught very well indeed at the University of Budapest from 1940 to 1946as well as keeping his researcher status. He improved the laboratory practice. Hehimself was a master of using hand equipment, and he would have liked to raise thephysics students to his level of practice. On the other hand, during the laboratorypractice and library research he allowed too much freedom to his students: he dealtwith them all as research colleagues.

7. In the United States of America

Békésy was invited from Budapest to Stockholm, to the Karolinska Institution.Here he taught the hard task of the removal of the inner ear in 1946. The cochlea isembedded into the hardest human bone, the pars petrosa.

In 1947, Professor S. S. Stevens invited him to work for Harvard University.At Harvard Békésy began to study the electric processes of the cochlea. He ledhis basic research concerning the unified working of the sensory organs also atthis university. He continued and improved his research in Hawaii from 1966 in alaboratory designed and established especially for him.

He left Harvard because as already a Nobel laureate professor in the UnitedStates he did not receive the freedom of research that he provided for his studentsin Budapest.

We are going to finish the propagation of the life of Békésy with two citationsfrom his Nobel lecture and a 1972 biography, respectively.

I owe a large part of my education to the museums of many countries. [. . . ]A baboon from 1400 BC gives us the same feeling of dignity now that he didin his day. A Hittite monkey looks just as helpless today as he did 5000 yearsago; and an early Greek fox behaves with all the shrewdness of a growingimportant nation. (Békésy 1961, p. 187)

Budapest had its history beginning from Rome up to modern times and it wasdestroyed several times during the last 2000 years. But every time it was builtup again on the same place.

I have been asked several time why Hungarians are relatively successfulcompared with other people, especially in science. I have the impression thatthis sticking to one place and to one aim is the main reason why in the longrun Hungary still produces important contributions to the culture of this world.(Békésy 1974, p. 13)

References

Békésy, von G.: 1957, ‘The Ear’, Reprint fromScientific American197(2), 1–10.Békésy, von G.: 1961, ‘Concerning the Pleasures of Observing, and the Mechanics of the Inner Ear’,

in A. B. Söner (ed.),Les Prix Nobel en 1961, P. A. Norstedt, Stockholm, pp. 184–208.Békésy, von G.: 1974, ‘Some Biophysical Experiments from Fifty Years Ago’, Reprint fromAnnual

Review of Physiology36, 1–16.