World of Anatomy and Physiology on Walter Rudolph Hess
Walter Rudolf Hess won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1949, for his work in analyzing the function of the diencephalon, part of the interbrain, and its role in coordinating the body's internal organs. Introduced to the natural world by his father while still a very young child, Hess later wrote in an autobiographical sketch in A Dozen Doctors: "As time went on, I became aware of the significance of the ecological setting... of the specific interrelationship between flora and fauna.... More and more it became clear that functional manifestations, such as the germination of a seed or the rapid sprouting of a shoot from a willow, were more apt to capture my mind than purely morphological features." This emphasis on function and relationships carried over into much of Hess's work, particularly his investigations into the biological basis of emotions and the workings of the circulatory and respiratory systems. Despite the interference of two world wars, he designed many elegant experiments for studying physiological processes in living organisms.
Hess was born in the Swiss town of Frauenfeld to Clemens and Gertrud (Fischer Saxon) Hess. From his father, a physics teacher, he inherited a strong interest in science, and from his mother an energetic, good-humored personality. After finishing high school, Hess began his college career, changing universities frequently and taking every opportunity to travel. He eventually received a medical degree from the University of Zurich in 1905, and took a hospital residency under the famous surgeon Dr. Konrad Brunner.
While working for Brunner, Hess designed an improved blood viscometer (to measure blood's thickness and consistency) and began thinking about research in earnest. He took a second residency in Zurich and specialized in ophthalmology (the physiology and diseases of the eye) under the mistaken impression that the discipline would allow him time to continue his circulatory system investigations. He indeed developed a successful ophthalmology practice with a good income, but it took up all of his time. In 1912 Hess gave up his practice and moved to the Institute of Physiology in Zurich, where he was given considerable freedom of action. Eventually he was named chair of the Physiology department, and began traveling to conferences and meetings throughout Europe. The stresses inherent in administrative work (which included a severe fire at the Institute, and the design and construction of a mountaintop research facility) and World War I cut into his research time again, but he still managed to publish two important monographs, The Regulation of the Circulatory System in 1930, and The Regulation of Respiration in 1931.
Hess brought an unusual variety of tools and skills to his research. He had learned the basic principles of physics from his father, he knew a great deal about optics and hand-eye coordination from his days as an ophthalmologist, and he was a skilled surgeon. These all proved useful when he began conducting brain research on experimental animals. Hess's work on the circulatory and respiratory systems had included investigations of their interrelationship with other parts of animal physiology, including how blood flow and breathing were affected by the nervous system. Gradually this led to research on the areas of the brain responsible for regulating internal organs.
Of particular interest to Hess was the diencephalon, which is located under the cerebellum and is thus very difficult to access without damaging the rest of the brain. Hess designed very small electrodes and a mechanical guidance system that could implant the electrodes in experimental animals (cats) with the least possible disruption of their normal behavior. He also designed a method of delivering electrical stimulus pulses swiftly and accurately. On at least one occasion there was a public outcry about the use of animals for experimentation. Hess was instrumental in convincing the activists that, if properly regulated and humanely conducted, animal experiments were important for human welfare.
Using the electrodes to stimulate different areas of the brain, Hess observed the results on other areas of bodily function, such as blood pressure, respiration, and body temperature. He recorded his observations not only on paper, but also on film, and maintained meticulous records of dissections and cell studies. He also compared the results of electrical stimulation with behaviors resulting from naturally occurring brain lesions. He found that the diencephalon, and particularly the hypothalamus, controlled many of the body's responses, such as fear and hunger, and he was able to map out some of these responses in detail. Partly due to the isolation imposed by World War II, and partly because his papers were written entirely in German, the outside world knew little of his work until he had accumulated about 25 years worth of experiments. This may have been fortunate, because, as he wrote in his sketch, "The vast number of experiments turned out to be decisive; for generalization concerning symptoms, syndromes, and localizations could be supported only by such a large body of data."
In 1949, Hess won a share of the 1949 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine; Portuguese neurosurgeon Antonio Egas Moniz shared the award for his work on white brain matter. The presenter said in his speech that Hess's results demonstrate "that in the midbrain we have higher centers of autonomic functions which coordinate these with reactions of the skeletal musculature adapted to the individual functions.... Through his research, Hess has brilliantly answered a number of difficult questions regarding the localization of body functions in the brain." Other recognitions the physiologist received included Switzerland's Marcel Benorst Prize in 1933 and the German Society for Circulation Research's Ludwig Medal in 1938.
Hess married the former Louise Sandmeyer in 1908; the couple had two children. When not working or traveling, Hess relaxed at his country house in southern Switzerland, where he cultivated grapes, tended his garden, and absorbed the pleasantries of Italian culture. He retired in 1951, although he continued his work and was instrumental in the establishment of an institute for brain research. He died in Locarno, Switzerland in 1973.
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