Heinrich von Recklinghausen

Who was Heinrich von Recklinghausen?

Heinrich von Recklinghausen was a German physician and scientist from Würzburg.

After receiving his medical doctorate in 1895, he worked as an assistant in several hospitals. In 1902 he moved to Bern, where he worked in the physiological institute of Hugo Kronecker. During World War I he was a military physician in Strasbourg, and afterwards performed scientific research in Heidelberg and Munich. He was the son of pathologist Friedrich Daniel von Recklinghausen.

Recklinghausen is primarily remembered for his study of blood pressure, and contributions made in the science of blood pressure measurement. He is credited for making improvements to Scipione Riva-Rocci's sphygmomanometer by increasing the size of the pressure cuff from 5cm to 10cm. During the 1930s he devised an oscillo-tonometer; a device used to measure systolic and diastolic blood pressure. It consisted of a mechanical amplification system connected to an oscillating needle and dial, two cuffs being connected to single inflation bulb, a control lever, a release valve and two tambours. With Recklinghausen's oscillotonometer, a stethoscope was not needed to listen for Korotkoff sounds, they were instead represented as oscillations of a needle.