Edward H. Lambert

[1] After two years at Morton Junior College he received BS, MS, MD and PhD degrees from the University of Illinois.

After an internship at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, he obtained a PhD in physiology studying the effects of oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations on blood pressure and the vasomotor system.

[2] In 1943, his PhD thesis caught the attention of the head of the Aero Medical Unit, a top secret research lab at the Mayo Clinic and he was invited to join the team.

Lambert had an interest in the physiological problems associated with aviation; spanning World War II, he spent a total of 10 years in this area.

Lambert, described as a principal investigator[2] and a key member of the team,[7] was a human guinea pig in these studies, with repeated episodes of loss of consciousness.

[8] Again, as a human guinea pig, he went up many times in a Douglas Dauntless dive bomber with an Army pilot, flying in spirals over Rochester, Minnesota, to determine if g-suits were effective.

Lambert mentored generations of EMG fellows, many of whom became leaders in the field of peripheral neurology;[1] this has been called his greatest legacy.

Early EMG machine at Mayo Clinic. With the assistance of his research technician, Ervin L Schmidt, Lambert developed a machine that could be moved from the EMG Lab, and was relatively easy to use. As the oscilloscope had no “store” or “print” features, a Polaroid camera was affixed to the front on a hinge, synchronized to photo the scan.(cropped)