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Updated: Aug 23, 2026

Patient Directed Recording of a Bipolar Three-Lead Electrocardiogram using a Smartwatch with ECG Function
Published on: December 11, 2019
Abstract:
In 1903 Willem Einthoven published in Pflügers Arch his classic article on the investigation of human electrocardiogram by his string galvanometer. Many historians of medicine, Einthoven also marked that publication as the beginning of clinical electrocardiography. Many investigators like Galvani, Manteucci, Kölliker, Müller, Lipmann, Waller, Ader, Einthoven, Lewis, Wilson and others participated in creation and development of electrocardiogram. From that time electrocardiogram quickly became, and has remained the most essential diagnostic laboratory tool in investigation of heart diseases. The aim of this article is to remind us of the beginning of this part of cardiology 100 years ago.
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