Abraham Noordergraaf, Ph.D. 
anoor@cardiodyn.seas.upenn.edu
Professor Emeritus of Biomedical Engineering, of Veterinary
Medicine, of Dutch Culture, and of Anesthesia, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, PA. Honorary Professor of Physiology, University of
Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Abraham (Bram) Noordergraaf was born in the Hospital of the University
of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands on August 7, 1929. He returned
to
this University for training in mathematics, physics, and astronomy
(B.Sc. in 1953), in mathematics and experimental physics (M.Sc.
in
1955), became the first assistant to Herman C. Burger, the first
Professor of Medical Physics in The Netherlands, under whose guidance
he
prepared his dissertation `Physical Basis of Ballistocardiography'
(Ph.D. in 1956).
The choice of this topic resulted in an invitation by Isaac Starr,
Professor of Therapeutic Research and creator of the term 'Ballistocardiography',
to become a Visiting Fellow in Penn's Medical School to continue
studies of this subject, now broadened to include its clinical aspects
(1957/8). This proved to be so rewarding that Dr. Noordergraaf became
one of the first trans-Atlantic commuters, doing research and teaching,
part time, at both Utrecht and Penn for about five years. During
this period, he worked with Herman P. Schwan on the establishment
of Penn's Ph.D. program in Bioengineering. The popularity of Dr.
Noordergraaf's teaching among graduate students contributed to his
appointment as Associate Professor in Biomedical Engineering at
Penn's Moore School of Electrical Engineering (1964). Promotion
to Professor in this specialty (1970) was followed by similar appointments
in Veterinary Medicine (1976), in Dutch Culture (1983) and in the
Medical School's Anesthesia Department (1990) on the basis of
joint research activities.
Such cooperative research in conjunction with guidance of Ph.D.
candidates generated a number of highlights that include: a quantitative
theory on the origin of the ballistocardiogram; the design and
development of a special purpose circulatory analog computer, which
solved over 200 simultaneous partial differential equations in one
millisecond when the most advanced digital computers could not handle
this problem; development of a generalized linear theory of wave
transmission in mammalian arterial systems, which contains all previous,
often contradictory, linear theories as special cases; development
of
the modified windkessel as a realistic load to the ventricle;
development of the first 3-port formulation of pressure-flow relations
in collapsible vessels; proof of the absence of a widely adopted
requirement that biological systems must have a set-point in the
form of
a distinct structural entity; development of the first system for
stable
automatic control of hypertension in humans; introduction of the
first
dynamic biological similarity principle; exposure of the reason
why
classical wave transmission theory overestimates wave velocity in
capillaries by two orders of magnitude; discovery of the origin
of the
Korotkoff sound, widely used in noninvasive blood pressure measurement;
extension of the Huxley theory of muscle contraction to include
relaxation; demonstrated that a wide range of different baroreceptor
responses are contained in a single baroreceptor property; design
of a
clinical method to obtain total arterial compliance in vivo accurately;
introduction of the concept of impedance-defined flow as a
generalization of Harvey's 1628 theory of the blood circulation;
development of a paradigm for quantifying ventricular contraction.
Bioengineering
| Penn Engineering Home
| Penn Home |
City of Philadelphia
Faculty
& Staff |
Graduate Program |
Undergraduate Program |
Research
| Labs & Organizations
| Events
Course
Listings
|
BE Links
| Site Index |
Admission
| Employment
|
