He invariably excelled in physics and mathematics and graduated from gymnasium (German high school) at Göttingen in distinction in 1934.
[1][2] During his career Schwan did much to improve the emerging field of biomedical engineering, developed its first PhD program, and produced more than 300 technical papers and gave countless lectures.
He is best known for many biophysical studies related to electrical properties of cells and tissues, and on non-thermal mechanisms of interaction of fields with biological systems.
He innovative works include the large low-frequency dielectric dispersion that is found in biological material, and electrically induced forces on cells.
He proposed a safe limit for human exposure to microwave energy of 100 W/m2 (based on thermal analysis) to the U.S. Navy in 1953, which became the basis for the present IEEE C95.1 safety standards used in the western world.