Biotelemetric Experiment in the Radiotelegraphic Bureau of the Maritime Department (1912). A New Episode from the History of the Development of Russian Science

Abstract

The minutes of the meeting of the Society of Marine Physicians in St. Petersburg dated October 30, 1912, which describes an experiment on the transmission of biomedical data via telecommunications, are published. The head of the workshop of the Radiotelegraph depot A.K. Nikiforov developed a device for remote transmission of the sound picture of the heart, using his own designs of amplifiers and microphones. The experiment was conducted with the participation of doctor A.G. Makarov. The results indicated insufficient broadcast quality and required technical refinement of the device. Comparison with the effectiveness of similar experiments in other countries shows that in the studied period of time, the general level of technical development did not fundamentally allow solving the problem of high-quality transmission of biomedical data over a distance. The fact of the experiment revealed by the author, which occurred against the background of institutionalization of scientific research in the Radiotelegraph Depot, is extremely important from the point of view of systematization of the history of domestic scientific research in the field of biotelemetry. When studying archival materials, the processes of institutionalization of scientific work in the Radiotelegraph Depot were revealed, including regulatory support, creation of organizational structures, distribution of goals and objectives, financing, and resource provision. The formal structuring of scientific activity formed the context for scaling research into other fields of knowledge, which created the basis for A.K. Nikiforov's scientific and design activities in the field of biomedicine. The scientist-engineer made a contribution to the accumulation of knowledge and the future formation of dynamic biotelemetry as a separate scientific direction.