Carl Wilhelm Sem-Jacobsen: Aerospace Neurophysiology and Deep Brain Stimulation Pioneer
The Norwegian physician Carl Wilhelm Sem-Jacobsen (1912–1991) was a pioneer in deep brain stimulation and aerospace neurophysiology, but for several reasons, his story has remained untold. During WW2, he collaborated with a renowned military underground resistance group against the Nazi occupants an...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:8826466 2023-05-15T17:43:37+02:00 Carl Wilhelm Sem-Jacobsen: Aerospace Neurophysiology and Deep Brain Stimulation Pioneer Dietrichs, Espen 2022-02-01 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8826466/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34862321 https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000013149 en eng Lippincott Williams & Wilkins http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8826466/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34862321 http://dx.doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000013149 Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American Academy of Neurology. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) , which permits downloading and sharing the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially without permission from the journal. CC-BY-NC-ND Neurology Historical Neurology Text 2022 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000013149 2022-02-13T01:52:20Z The Norwegian physician Carl Wilhelm Sem-Jacobsen (1912–1991) was a pioneer in deep brain stimulation and aerospace neurophysiology, but for several reasons, his story has remained untold. During WW2, he collaborated with a renowned military underground resistance group against the Nazi occupants and then had to flee to neutral Sweden. He returned to participate in the liberation of Northern Norway as a Captain in the US Special Forces also working with the OSS (Office of Strategic Services—precursor for CIA) and received a citation from General Eisenhower for his contributions. Sem-Jacobsen then spent several years in the US training in psychiatry and clinical neurophysiology at the Mayo Clinic. He constructed his own medical technical devices, was among the first to develop deep brain stimulation, and made the smallest EEG and EKG recording systems yet produced, also used by the American astronauts walking on the Moon. But he was more an inventor than a researcher, and few of his observations were published in peer-reviewed medical journals. He built his own neurophysiologic institute for neurosurgery, deep brain recordings, and deep brain stimulation in Oslo's main psychiatric hospital, but was sponsored by US military forces and NASA. He knew CIA Director William E. Colby personally, and rumors soon flourished that Sem-Jacobsen conducted secret mind control experiments for American authorities and the CIA. These accusations were investigated, and long after his death, he was officially absolved by a Hearing Committee appointed by the Norwegian Government. Nevertheless, all his personal files were burnt by his family who was still harassed by investigative journalists. Sem-Jacobsen also documented some of his work on film, but the whereabouts of these films have remained unknown. I searched for them for several years and recently discovered numerous films and photographs in an old barn in rural Norway. These films and photographs document in-action neurophysiology recordings in divers, pilots, and astronauts, ... Text Northern Norway PubMed Central (PMC) Norway Neurology 98 5 199 203 |
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Historical Neurology |
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Historical Neurology Dietrichs, Espen Carl Wilhelm Sem-Jacobsen: Aerospace Neurophysiology and Deep Brain Stimulation Pioneer |
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Historical Neurology |
description |
The Norwegian physician Carl Wilhelm Sem-Jacobsen (1912–1991) was a pioneer in deep brain stimulation and aerospace neurophysiology, but for several reasons, his story has remained untold. During WW2, he collaborated with a renowned military underground resistance group against the Nazi occupants and then had to flee to neutral Sweden. He returned to participate in the liberation of Northern Norway as a Captain in the US Special Forces also working with the OSS (Office of Strategic Services—precursor for CIA) and received a citation from General Eisenhower for his contributions. Sem-Jacobsen then spent several years in the US training in psychiatry and clinical neurophysiology at the Mayo Clinic. He constructed his own medical technical devices, was among the first to develop deep brain stimulation, and made the smallest EEG and EKG recording systems yet produced, also used by the American astronauts walking on the Moon. But he was more an inventor than a researcher, and few of his observations were published in peer-reviewed medical journals. He built his own neurophysiologic institute for neurosurgery, deep brain recordings, and deep brain stimulation in Oslo's main psychiatric hospital, but was sponsored by US military forces and NASA. He knew CIA Director William E. Colby personally, and rumors soon flourished that Sem-Jacobsen conducted secret mind control experiments for American authorities and the CIA. These accusations were investigated, and long after his death, he was officially absolved by a Hearing Committee appointed by the Norwegian Government. Nevertheless, all his personal files were burnt by his family who was still harassed by investigative journalists. Sem-Jacobsen also documented some of his work on film, but the whereabouts of these films have remained unknown. I searched for them for several years and recently discovered numerous films and photographs in an old barn in rural Norway. These films and photographs document in-action neurophysiology recordings in divers, pilots, and astronauts, ... |
format |
Text |
author |
Dietrichs, Espen |
author_facet |
Dietrichs, Espen |
author_sort |
Dietrichs, Espen |
title |
Carl Wilhelm Sem-Jacobsen: Aerospace Neurophysiology and Deep Brain Stimulation Pioneer |
title_short |
Carl Wilhelm Sem-Jacobsen: Aerospace Neurophysiology and Deep Brain Stimulation Pioneer |
title_full |
Carl Wilhelm Sem-Jacobsen: Aerospace Neurophysiology and Deep Brain Stimulation Pioneer |
title_fullStr |
Carl Wilhelm Sem-Jacobsen: Aerospace Neurophysiology and Deep Brain Stimulation Pioneer |
title_full_unstemmed |
Carl Wilhelm Sem-Jacobsen: Aerospace Neurophysiology and Deep Brain Stimulation Pioneer |
title_sort |
carl wilhelm sem-jacobsen: aerospace neurophysiology and deep brain stimulation pioneer |
publisher |
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8826466/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34862321 https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000013149 |
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Norway |
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Norway |
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Northern Norway |
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Northern Norway |
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Neurology |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8826466/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34862321 http://dx.doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000013149 |
op_rights |
Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American Academy of Neurology. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) , which permits downloading and sharing the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially without permission from the journal. |
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CC-BY-NC-ND |
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https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000013149 |
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Neurology |
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98 |
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5 |
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199 |
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203 |
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