UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State faculty, staff and students are mourning the loss of David Geselowitz, distinguished alumni professor emeritus of bioengineering and professor emeritus of medicine, who died on Aug. 22 at age 90. He was known for his contributions to the theory of the electrocardiogram (ECG) and the development of the artificial heart.
“When David Geselowitz came to Penn State, he had already established an international reputation as an expert in electrocardiology,” said Roger Gaumond, retired bioengineering faculty member at Penn State. “His partnership with cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. William Pierce of Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center led to decades of significant developments in the design and improvements of cardiovascular assist systems and the Penn State Artificial Heart.”
Born in Philadelphia in 1930, Geselowitz graduated from Central High School and the University of Pennsylvania, where he received his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering. As the top student in his undergraduate class, he received the Atwater Kent Award.
Geselowitz made an impact early in his career with his doctoral dissertation, which focused on theoretical approaches to measure electrical changes in the heart via sensors on the skin. A paper reporting this work was cited so often in science and engineering literature it was identified as a Science Citation Classic by the Science Citation Index.
After graduating with his doctorate degree, Geselowitz joined the University of Pennsylvania faculty and founded one of the nation’s first doctoral programs in biomedical engineering. In 1971, he moved to Penn State to implement a pioneering graduate program in bioengineering. In 1974, the program was launched under Geselowitz’s leadership and became the University’s first Intercollege Graduate Degree Program (IGDP), with faculty from the Colleges of Engineering, Medicine, Science and Health and Human Development.
“David exemplified the meaning of bioengineering at a time when the discipline was barely defined,” said William Weiss, Penn State professor of surgery and biomedical engineering. “He brought rigorous engineering analysis to the field of cardiology and laid the groundwork for modern clinical practice. He was also an excellent teacher and mentor, always open to questions and discussion.”
In collaboration with then-Penn State bioengineering graduate student Walter T. Miller, Geselowitz developed the Miller-Geselowitz model. The model relates electrical cardiac cell signals to ECG measurements, indicating normal or abnormal heart activity.
Geselowitz also developed the theory for magnetic fields generated by the heart and brain, used extensively by researchers in magnetocardiography, which measures the magnetic fields produced by electrical currents in the heart, and magnetoencephalography, which records magnetic fields produced by electrical currents in the brain. He also contributed to the theory behind impedance plethysmography, which uses electrical resistance measurements to visualize internal structures in the body.