Erna Gibbs; developed brain scan
By Kenan Heise
In the 1930's Erna Leonhardt Gibbs, 81, a Wilmette research scientist, was one of three persons who developed the electroencephalogram, which has become the basis for the diagnosis of epilepsy of other brain disorders and much of their subsequent treatment. The other two were her husband, Dr. Frederic Gibbs, and researcher Albert Grass.
Services for Mrs. Gibbs, a Wilmette resident, were held Monday in Fourth Presbyterian Church, 126 E. Chestnut St. She died July 23 at her home.
In giving the Golden Brain Award to Mrs. Gibbs and her husband in 1984, William Fay, chairman of the University of Chicago-affiliated Brain Research Foundation, said, "Their love for each other and their love of medical research changed the course of research on the human brain and bettered the lives of millions."
In 1958, the American Women's Association named her "Woman of the Year," citing her "discoveries which have stimulated medical scientists all over the world" as a result of the "most comprehensive" study ever made by a single individual in specialized brain research.
Mrs. Gibbs emigrated from Germany in 1928 and began work at Harvard University under Dr. William Lennox, the father of epilepsy research. It was through him she met Frederic Gibbs, a fellow scientist studying epilepsy. They were married Dec. 16, 1930.
Working together through the Johnson Foundation at the University of Pennsylvania, they proved through their invention of a blood recorder that epilepsy was not caused by sudden losses of blood to the brain, as was commonly believed. Rather, they theorized it was the result of electrical "brainstorms" or bombardments.
The couple went to Germany to visit psychiatrist Hans Berger, who invented the EEG by connecting electrodes on the scalp to a modified radio receiver with vacuum tubes that magnified the feeble current a million times. They established in practicality by researching and publishing an article on the EEGs of epileptics.
Berger committed suicide in 1941 after being harassed by the Nazis.
Working with Grass at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Gibbses developed the use of the EEG as a diagnostic tool. They developed the mechanism for recording brain wave patterns. The difficult task of visually analyzing the resulting data was taken up by Mrs. Gibbs. She also taught the art to the medical and scientific communities.
A 1958 Tribune article described her work to date: "She has read more than 100,000 of these graphs, seeking the meaning of waves, peaks, curves, spindles, spikes, and other scribbles, the part of the brain concerned, and the kind of treatment indicated."
The Gibbses wrote the four-volume "Atlas of Electroencephalography," as well as hundreds of books and articles.
Their research and work clashed and sharply with that of one disciple of Sigmund Freud, who said that an epileptic seizure was sexually motivated and an attempt to return to the uterus.
Their Gibbs Laboratories grew out of a Michigan Avenue office in the 1940s and into their present headquarters in Wilmette in 1978. An independent lab, it has been responsible for establishing 17 of the 19 recognized standards for monitoring drug levels in the blood of epileptics. It is also equipped to do EEGs over the telephone with dozens of satellite offices around the country.
Mrs. Gibbs and her husband in 1938 received the Mead Johnson Award for their research in blood flow. In 1957, their EEG work won the Mary Lasker Award for Medicine.
Survivors, besides her husband, include: two sons, Erich and Frederic Jr.; four grandchildren; and a brother, Rolf Leonhardt.
Published in the Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL), on Friday, July 31, 1987, pg. 27.
By Kenan Heise
In the 1930's Erna Leonhardt Gibbs, 81, a Wilmette research scientist, was one of three persons who developed the electroencephalogram, which has become the basis for the diagnosis of epilepsy of other brain disorders and much of their subsequent treatment. The other two were her husband, Dr. Frederic Gibbs, and researcher Albert Grass.
Services for Mrs. Gibbs, a Wilmette resident, were held Monday in Fourth Presbyterian Church, 126 E. Chestnut St. She died July 23 at her home.
In giving the Golden Brain Award to Mrs. Gibbs and her husband in 1984, William Fay, chairman of the University of Chicago-affiliated Brain Research Foundation, said, "Their love for each other and their love of medical research changed the course of research on the human brain and bettered the lives of millions."
In 1958, the American Women's Association named her "Woman of the Year," citing her "discoveries which have stimulated medical scientists all over the world" as a result of the "most comprehensive" study ever made by a single individual in specialized brain research.
Mrs. Gibbs emigrated from Germany in 1928 and began work at Harvard University under Dr. William Lennox, the father of epilepsy research. It was through him she met Frederic Gibbs, a fellow scientist studying epilepsy. They were married Dec. 16, 1930.
Working together through the Johnson Foundation at the University of Pennsylvania, they proved through their invention of a blood recorder that epilepsy was not caused by sudden losses of blood to the brain, as was commonly believed. Rather, they theorized it was the result of electrical "brainstorms" or bombardments.
The couple went to Germany to visit psychiatrist Hans Berger, who invented the EEG by connecting electrodes on the scalp to a modified radio receiver with vacuum tubes that magnified the feeble current a million times. They established in practicality by researching and publishing an article on the EEGs of epileptics.
Berger committed suicide in 1941 after being harassed by the Nazis.
Working with Grass at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Gibbses developed the use of the EEG as a diagnostic tool. They developed the mechanism for recording brain wave patterns. The difficult task of visually analyzing the resulting data was taken up by Mrs. Gibbs. She also taught the art to the medical and scientific communities.
A 1958 Tribune article described her work to date: "She has read more than 100,000 of these graphs, seeking the meaning of waves, peaks, curves, spindles, spikes, and other scribbles, the part of the brain concerned, and the kind of treatment indicated."
The Gibbses wrote the four-volume "Atlas of Electroencephalography," as well as hundreds of books and articles.
Their research and work clashed and sharply with that of one disciple of Sigmund Freud, who said that an epileptic seizure was sexually motivated and an attempt to return to the uterus.
Their Gibbs Laboratories grew out of a Michigan Avenue office in the 1940s and into their present headquarters in Wilmette in 1978. An independent lab, it has been responsible for establishing 17 of the 19 recognized standards for monitoring drug levels in the blood of epileptics. It is also equipped to do EEGs over the telephone with dozens of satellite offices around the country.
Mrs. Gibbs and her husband in 1938 received the Mead Johnson Award for their research in blood flow. In 1957, their EEG work won the Mary Lasker Award for Medicine.
Survivors, besides her husband, include: two sons, Erich and Frederic Jr.; four grandchildren; and a brother, Rolf Leonhardt.
Published in the Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL), on Friday, July 31, 1987, pg. 27.
Erna Gibbs; developed brain scan
By Kenan Heise
In the 1930's Erna Leonhardt Gibbs, 81, a Wilmette research scientist, was one of three persons who developed the electroencephalogram, which has become the basis for the diagnosis of epilepsy of other brain disorders and much of their subsequent treatment. The other two were her husband, Dr. Frederic Gibbs, and researcher Albert Grass.
Services for Mrs. Gibbs, a Wilmette resident, were held Monday in Fourth Presbyterian Church, 126 E. Chestnut St. She died July 23 at her home.
In giving the Golden Brain Award to Mrs. Gibbs and her husband in 1984, William Fay, chairman of the University of Chicago-affiliated Brain Research Foundation, said, "Their love for each other and their love of medical research changed the course of research on the human brain and bettered the lives of millions."
In 1958, the American Women's Association named her "Woman of the Year," citing her "discoveries which have stimulated medical scientists all over the world" as a result of the "most comprehensive" study ever made by a single individual in specialized brain research.
Mrs. Gibbs emigrated from Germany in 1928 and began work at Harvard University under Dr. William Lennox, the father of epilepsy research. It was through him she met Frederic Gibbs, a fellow scientist studying epilepsy. They were married Dec. 16, 1930.
Working together through the Johnson Foundation at the University of Pennsylvania, they proved through their invention of a blood recorder that epilepsy was not caused by sudden losses of blood to the brain, as was commonly believed. Rather, they theorized it was the result of electrical "brainstorms" or bombardments.
The couple went to Germany to visit psychiatrist Hans Berger, who invented the EEG by connecting electrodes on the scalp to a modified radio receiver with vacuum tubes that magnified the feeble current a million times. They established in practicality by researching and publishing an article on the EEGs of epileptics.
Berger committed suicide in 1941 after being harassed by the Nazis.
Working with Grass at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Gibbses developed the use of the EEG as a diagnostic tool. They developed the mechanism for recording brain wave patterns. The difficult task of visually analyzing the resulting data was taken up by Mrs. Gibbs. She also taught the art to the medical and scientific communities.
A 1958 Tribune article described her work to date: "She has read more than 100,000 of these graphs, seeking the meaning of waves, peaks, curves, spindles, spikes, and other scribbles, the part of the brain concerned, and the kind of treatment indicated."
The Gibbses wrote the four-volume "Atlas of Electroencephalography," as well as hundreds of books and articles.
Their research and work clashed and sharply with that of one disciple of Sigmund Freud, who said that an epileptic seizure was sexually motivated and an attempt to return to the uterus.
Their Gibbs Laboratories grew out of a Michigan Avenue office in the 1940s and into their present headquarters in Wilmette in 1978. An independent lab, it has been responsible for establishing 17 of the 19 recognized standards for monitoring drug levels in the blood of epileptics. It is also equipped to do EEGs over the telephone with dozens of satellite offices around the country.
Mrs. Gibbs and her husband in 1938 received the Mead Johnson Award for their research in blood flow. In 1957, their EEG work won the Mary Lasker Award for Medicine.
Survivors, besides her husband, include: two sons, Erich and Frederic Jr.; four grandchildren; and a brother, Rolf Leonhardt.
Published in the Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL), on Friday, July 31, 1987, pg. 27.
By Kenan Heise
In the 1930's Erna Leonhardt Gibbs, 81, a Wilmette research scientist, was one of three persons who developed the electroencephalogram, which has become the basis for the diagnosis of epilepsy of other brain disorders and much of their subsequent treatment. The other two were her husband, Dr. Frederic Gibbs, and researcher Albert Grass.
Services for Mrs. Gibbs, a Wilmette resident, were held Monday in Fourth Presbyterian Church, 126 E. Chestnut St. She died July 23 at her home.
In giving the Golden Brain Award to Mrs. Gibbs and her husband in 1984, William Fay, chairman of the University of Chicago-affiliated Brain Research Foundation, said, "Their love for each other and their love of medical research changed the course of research on the human brain and bettered the lives of millions."
In 1958, the American Women's Association named her "Woman of the Year," citing her "discoveries which have stimulated medical scientists all over the world" as a result of the "most comprehensive" study ever made by a single individual in specialized brain research.
Mrs. Gibbs emigrated from Germany in 1928 and began work at Harvard University under Dr. William Lennox, the father of epilepsy research. It was through him she met Frederic Gibbs, a fellow scientist studying epilepsy. They were married Dec. 16, 1930.
Working together through the Johnson Foundation at the University of Pennsylvania, they proved through their invention of a blood recorder that epilepsy was not caused by sudden losses of blood to the brain, as was commonly believed. Rather, they theorized it was the result of electrical "brainstorms" or bombardments.
The couple went to Germany to visit psychiatrist Hans Berger, who invented the EEG by connecting electrodes on the scalp to a modified radio receiver with vacuum tubes that magnified the feeble current a million times. They established in practicality by researching and publishing an article on the EEGs of epileptics.
Berger committed suicide in 1941 after being harassed by the Nazis.
Working with Grass at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Gibbses developed the use of the EEG as a diagnostic tool. They developed the mechanism for recording brain wave patterns. The difficult task of visually analyzing the resulting data was taken up by Mrs. Gibbs. She also taught the art to the medical and scientific communities.
A 1958 Tribune article described her work to date: "She has read more than 100,000 of these graphs, seeking the meaning of waves, peaks, curves, spindles, spikes, and other scribbles, the part of the brain concerned, and the kind of treatment indicated."
The Gibbses wrote the four-volume "Atlas of Electroencephalography," as well as hundreds of books and articles.
Their research and work clashed and sharply with that of one disciple of Sigmund Freud, who said that an epileptic seizure was sexually motivated and an attempt to return to the uterus.
Their Gibbs Laboratories grew out of a Michigan Avenue office in the 1940s and into their present headquarters in Wilmette in 1978. An independent lab, it has been responsible for establishing 17 of the 19 recognized standards for monitoring drug levels in the blood of epileptics. It is also equipped to do EEGs over the telephone with dozens of satellite offices around the country.
Mrs. Gibbs and her husband in 1938 received the Mead Johnson Award for their research in blood flow. In 1957, their EEG work won the Mary Lasker Award for Medicine.
Survivors, besides her husband, include: two sons, Erich and Frederic Jr.; four grandchildren; and a brother, Rolf Leonhardt.
Published in the Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL), on Friday, July 31, 1987, pg. 27.
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GIBBS
ERNA LEONHARDT
1904 - 1987
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Wife of Frederic A.
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