Abraham Noordergraaf
Professor Emeritus, Bioengineering
Research Expertise: Ballistocardiography
Abraham's research has generated a number of highlights that include: a quantitative theory on the origin of the ballistocardiogram; the design and development of a special purpose circulatory analog computer, which solved over 200 simultaneous partial differential equations in one millisecond when the most advanced digital computers could not handle this problem; development of a generalized linear theory of wave transmission in mammalian arterial systems, which contains all previous, often contradictory, linear theories as special cases; development of the modified windkessel as a realistic load to the ventricle; development of the first 3-port formulation of pressure-flow relations in collapsible vessels; proof of the absence of a widely adopted requirement that biological systems must have a set-point in the form of a distinct structural entity; development of the first system for stable automatic control of hypertension in humans; introduction of the first dynamic biological similarity principle; exposure of the reason why classical wave transmission theory overestimates wave velocity in capillaries by two orders of magnitude; discovery of the origin of the Korotkoff sound, widely used in noninvasive blood pressure measurement; extension of the Huxley theory of muscle contraction to include relaxation; demonstrated that a wide range of different baroreceptor responses are contained in a single baroreceptor property; design of a clinical method to obtain total arterial compliance in vivo accurately; introduction of the concept of impedance-defined flow as a generalization of Harvey's 1628 theory of the blood circulation; development of a paradigm for quantifying ventricular contraction.
Education:
PhD Physical Basis of Ballistocardiography 1956 - University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
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