BÉKÉSY, Georg von (György)

(b. 3 June 1899 in Budapest, Hungary; d. 13 April 1972 in Honolulu, Hawaii), physiologist and physicist who won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1961 for his pioneering work on the human auditory system.

Békésy was the son of Alexander, a diplomat, and Paula Mazaly von Békésy. The diplomatic life meant living in many countries, and Békésy's early education took place in Munich, Germany; Constantinople, Turkey; Budapest, Hungary; and Zurich, Switzerland. He studied chemistry at the University of Berne and graduated with a baccalaureate degree in 1920. In 1926 he earned a Ph.D. from the University of Budapest for the development of a fast method for determining molecular weight. Békésy worked at the Hungarian Telephone and Post Office Laboratory from 1928 to 1945 as a communications engineer and taught experimental physics at Pázmány Péter University in Budapest from 1939 to 1945.

His research at the Hungarian laboratory, originally intended to improve telephone communications, resulted in Békésy's discovery of the physical mechanism of stimulation within the cochlea. By developing anatomical dissection techniques using the low-powered microscope and inventing a special grinding mechanism, which operated in a water bath, he determined the mechanical characteristics of neural transduction in the inner ear. This technique allowed rapid, nondestructive dissection of the cochlea, so sound waves could be observed in the basilar membrane. Silver particles were sprinkled on the nearly transparent basilar membrane and examined stroboscopically. This was the foundation of the traveling-wave theory: sound impulses produce a wave sweeping along the basilar membrane. As the wave travels through the membrane, the amplitude increases until it reaches a maximum and then falls off sharply until the wave dies out. That point at which the wave reaches its greatest amplitude is where the frequency of the sound is detected. As Hermann von Helmholtz had postulated, Békésy found that the high-frequency tones are perceived near the base of the cochlea and the lower frequencies toward the apex.

In 1946 Békésy emigrated to Sweden to work at the Karolinska Institute. There he developed the Békésy audiometer. In 1947, invited by S. S. Stevens, Békésy came to the United States to run the Psycho-Acoustic Laboratory at Harvard University. While at Harvard he became a naturalized citizen. He continued his work on the perception of the senses, culminating in the publication of Experiments in Hearing (1960). Békésy won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1961 for this landmark research and the complete publication of his research works and publications in one volume. By developing the model of the inner ear and devising methods to research how the neural system works in hearing, Békésy laid the foundation for subsequent work on sound and hearing in the 1960s. He also developed new techniques that led to a clearer understanding of hearing problems in humans and devised instruments that enabled researchers to do more precise work.

After receiving the Nobel Prize, he became concerned with the biophysics of sense organs and with perception and worked in this area for the rest of the 1960s. His scientific objective was to understand all of the common biological processes of perception. In the academic year 1965–1966, Békésy became professor of sensory sciences at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, after mandatory retirement from Harvard and the loss by fire of the Psycho-Acoustic Laboratory. His research at the university, from 1966 until his death in 1972, involved the creation of many microscopic devices to aid in precision work. Hawaiian Telephone sponsored some of his research.

In addition to the Nobel Prize, Békésy received several scientific distinctions and honorary doctorates from seven universities, including the University of Medical Sciences in Budapest. Several laboratories in the world are named for him in recognition of his pioneering work. He never married or had children. Békésyis also well known for his collection of art, which he left to the Nobel Foundation after his death, and his love of music and antiques. His passion for research was a driving force throughout his life.

The Library of Congress has Békésy's collections of manuscripts, movies, and photographs. In addition to E. G. Weaver, trans., Experiments in Hearing (1960), he published Sensory Inhibition (1967). A brief autobiographical sketch appears in "Some Biophysical Experiments from Fifty Years Ago," Annual Review of Physiology (1974), and S. S. Stevens, Fred Warshofsky, and others, Sound and Hearing (1970). His obituary is in the New York Times and the Washington Post (both 16 June 1972).

Kim Laird