In the year 1921, Tesla was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work with Jacques d'Arsonval in the diathermic treatment of diseases and tumors.  A short definition of diathermy may be the therapeutic use of heat to body tissues.  Electrodes are used to send an electric current to increasing the local blood circulation, therefore accelerating the process of repair to the body.  Diathermy was originally used for arthritis, bursitis, and other disorders of the tendons and muscles, but use now extends to a large number of alighments.  Because of the high-frequency current used in diathermy, care must be taken to avoid burning the skin.  Continue reading to learn more.

Early History
        As knowledge of electricity increased, so did ideas of its uses.  Many people began to look at the biological effects of electricity.  Gottlieg Krueger discovered that the pluse rate increases during electrifiation, which brought about the use of electricity in people who suffered from impaired blood circulation.  Jean Jallabert used frequent electric shocks to stimulate a man's arm, in an attempt to restore movement.
        In the early 18th century, Luigi Galvani made a breakthrough discovery.  When performing an experiment on frog, he discovered that when two dissimilar metals were brought into contact with the frog's muscle, the muscle would contract.  His explination was that this was caused by a disruption in the muscle's electrical equilibrium.  Allessandro Volta initially accepted Galvanic's theory, but after further investigation and his development of the first battery, he concluded that electricity could be generated independently of animals and that it was a property of all metals.  This biological form of energy was named "Galvanic current" in honor of Galvani, the initial discoverer and gave rise to the Frankenstein stories.

Jacques d'Arsonval
        Jacques was born June 8, 1851, in a family which originally hailed from nobility.  This great man will devote the majority of his work to diathermy, or as some call it electrophysiology.  His search into animal heat wil lead to the invention of a multitude of diathermic devices.  His reflecting moving-coil galvanometer will be used to measure weak electric currents.  In 1890, devices of his will be used to obtain high-frequency currents to treat skin and mucous membrane diseases.  This will be called D'Arsonvalization in his honor.  His work with Tesla also extended into the idea of OTEC, Ocean Thermal Electric Convirsion.

Tesla
        Tesla in 1891 first noted that heat resulted from irradiation of tissue with high-frequency alternating current and pointed out its possible medical uses.  With the help of Jacques d'Arsonval later on, Tesla began to experiment with his coil and diathermy.  They worked together the show that plant tumors could be destroyed without harming the plant iself.  Research continued into the use of diathermy to treat tumors, and in 1921 they were rewarded with the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work.  This work came just in time, as the number of caner patients would steadily rise after the 1920s.

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