Seventy years since the invention of the averaging technique in Neurophysiology: Tribute to George Duncan Dawson

ABSTRACT

In 1951, the physiologist George Duncan Dawson presented his work with the averaging of the signal in the evoked potentials (EPs), opening a new stage in the development of clinical neurophysiology. The authors present aspects of Professor Dawson’s biography and a review of his work on the EPs and, mainly, the article reveals the new technique in detail that would allow the growth of the clinical application of the visual, auditory, and somatosensory EPs.

RESUMO

Em 1951 o fisiologista George Duncan Dawson apresentou seu trabalho com a promediação de sinal nos potenciais evocados, abrindo uma nova etapa no desenvolvimento da neurofisiologia clínica. Os autores apresentam aspectos da biografia do professor Dawson e uma revisão de seus trabalhos sobre os potenciais evocados, principalmente do artigo que mostrava a nova técnica, que viria a permitir o crescimento da aplicação clínica dos potenciais evocados visual, auditivo e somatossensitivo.

Keywords:

Evoked Potentials - Neurology - Neurophysiology - Evoked Potentials - Somatosensory

Palavras-chave:

Potenciais Evocados - Neurologia - Neurofisiologia - Potenciais Somatossensoriais Evocados

Authors’ contributions:

OJHF: conceptualization, data curation, investigation, methodology, formal analysis, project administration, and roles/writing – original draft; CSKK: conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, validation, visualization, project administration, and roles/writing; PJL, RDD: conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, and roles/writing; LCW: conceptualization, validation, visualization, supervision, and writing – review and edit; RHS: conceptualization, validation, visualization, formal analysis, project administration, supervision, and writing – review and edit.

Publication History

Received: 02 July 2021

Accepted: 15 August 2021

Article published online:
30 January 2023

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