TISSUE HEATING BY SHORT WAVE DIATHERMY
Bernard Mortimer, Stafford L. Osborne · 1935
1935 research confirmed electromagnetic fields can heat human tissue, establishing principles still relevant to modern wireless device safety.
Plain English Summary
This 1935 study examined how short wave diathermy devices heat human tissue using radiofrequency electromagnetic fields. The research investigated the thermal effects of electromagnetic currents on biological tissue, representing early scientific work on how RF energy interacts with the human body. This foundational research helped establish understanding of electromagnetic heating mechanisms that remain relevant to modern EMF exposure concerns.
Why This Matters
This 1935 research represents some of the earliest scientific investigation into how radiofrequency electromagnetic fields affect human tissue. While diathermy was used therapeutically to deliberately heat tissue for medical treatment, the underlying physics of electromagnetic heating applies to all RF exposure sources. The science demonstrates that electromagnetic fields can deposit energy in biological tissue and create measurable heating effects.
What this means for you is that the heating mechanism studied in 1935 diathermy research operates in your body today when you use wireless devices. Modern cell phones, WiFi routers, and other RF sources operate on the same fundamental principles, though at much lower power levels. The reality is that nearly 90 years ago, scientists already understood that electromagnetic fields could alter biological tissue through thermal effects. This early research laid the groundwork for understanding how today's wireless technology interacts with your body.
Finding
The specific bactericidal action of short waves is possible in every case so to explain the electrical energy of the field suffices to generate the necessary point heat that brings the organisms above their thermal death point.
In their words
“The specific bactericidal action of short waves is possible in every case so to explain the electrical energy of the field suffices to generate the necessary point heat that brings the organisms above their thermal death point.”
Figures from the Original Paper
Diagrams extracted from the original research document.
Exposure Information
Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study. Duration: 20 minutes for human thigh experiments, 10 minutes for dog experiments
Study Details
To evaluate the claims made for short wave diathermy, particularly regarding deeper thermal penetration, special selective thermal action, specific biologic action, and specific bactericidal action.
Experiments were conducted on anesthetized dogs and human subjects. Temperatures were taken by therm...
The heating of tissues of anesthetized dogs showed that there was no greater penetration of heat or ...
The claims of greater and more uniform penetration of heat into the body with short wave diathermy are not supported by evidence. The thermal gradient observed with conventional diathermy is not reversed with short wave diathermy. The experiments on which claims of uniform and penetrating heating have been based are all phantom model or other in vitro experiments. The heating effect depends on the specific conductivity of the liquid and rises to a maximum for a certain conductivity. The conductivity at which the maximum effect occurs is shown to be proportional to the frequency. The distribution of the field in the interior of a heterogeneous body depends on the specific conductivities and dielectric constants of the medium. The heating effect is not specific but is due to the generation of heat in tissues. The specific bactericidal action of short waves may be explained by point heating that brings organisms above their thermal death point. The specific biologic action of high frequency currents may be explained on the basis of heating which raises the temperature of organisms above their thermal death point.
Show BibTeX
@article{tissue_heating_by_short_wave_diathermy_g3689,
author = {Bernard Mortimer and Stafford L. Osborne},
title = {TISSUE HEATING BY SHORT WAVE DIATHERMY},
year = {1935},
}