SELECTIVE HEAT PRODUCTION BY ULTRASHORT (HERTZIAN) WAVES
A. BACHEM · 1935
Scientists documented biological heating effects from radio waves in 1935, establishing early evidence of electromagnetic-biological interactions.
Plain English Summary
This 1935 German research by Bachem investigated how ultrashort radio waves could selectively produce heat in biological tissues, marking early recognition that electromagnetic radiation could cause specific thermal effects in living systems. The study explored the potential for targeted heating applications in medical diathermy treatments. This represents some of the earliest documented scientific interest in how radio frequency energy interacts with biological materials.
Why This Matters
This pioneering 1935 research represents a crucial milestone in our understanding of how electromagnetic fields interact with biological systems. Bachem's work on 'sensitive heat production' was among the first to systematically examine how radio waves could create selective heating effects in tissues - a phenomenon we now know occurs with virtually all wireless devices. What makes this study particularly significant is its timing: scientists were already documenting biological effects from electromagnetic radiation nearly a century ago, long before the wireless revolution put these same frequencies in everyone's pocket.
The reality is that the selective heating Bachem studied in 1935 occurs today whenever you use a cell phone, WiFi device, or any wireless technology. The difference is that modern devices operate at power levels that create subtler thermal effects, but the fundamental physics remains the same. This early research laid the groundwork for understanding how electromagnetic energy transfers into biological systems - knowledge that remains highly relevant as we evaluate the safety of today's ubiquitous wireless technologies.
Figures from the Original Paper
Diagrams extracted from the original research document.
Exposure Information
Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study. Duration: 1 hour for bacterial experiments
Study Details
The purpose of this investigation was to decide whether or not ultrashort waves produce selective heating in different biological substances.
Two glass jars (5 x 4 x 2 inches) were employed, one filled with distilled water, one with saline so...
The saline heats 37 times as much as the water with 3.5 m. waves. Gelatin is predominantly affected ...
The observations obtained under well defined physical conditions substantiate in principle the results obtained by Schliephake under conditions less well defined. In detail, however, rather pronounced differences were noticeable. Such a strong relative heating of the liver as was claimed by Schliephake could not be observed by the author. The selective heating of the blood and its constituents, the blood serum and the blood corpuscles, was studied in the same way and compared with human skin. The results show that blood is heated about one-half as much as skin. The serum is heated 25 to 40 per cent less, and the corpuscles 10 to 45 per cent more than the whole blood. The actual heating of the whole blood is therefore, the result of the direct heating of its two components. The results of bacteriological experiments should be regarded as preliminary. Further studies are required for the final settlement of the questions.
Show BibTeX
@article{selective_heat_production_by_ultrashort_hertzian_waves_g6870,
author = {A. BACHEM},
title = {SELECTIVE HEAT PRODUCTION BY ULTRASHORT (HERTZIAN) WAVES},
year = {1935},
}