To determine how neurophysiologist Mary Brazier uncovered Adolf Beck’s hidden legacy.

Many pioneering neurologists drop into obscurity. Unearthing information about their contributions can be challenging. Adolf Beck (1863-1942) published a thesis on electrical activity in the brain in 1891. Although his research was pioneering, he remained in obscurity until neurophysiologist Mary Brazier (1904-1995) translated and amplified Beck’s work.

We investigated Brazier’s writing on Beck’s work and recent publications on Brazier and Beck.

Adolf Beck was born to a Jewish family in Poland. After obtaining his medical degree in 1890, he worked with well-known physiologist Napoleon Cybulski. In "Further Investigations into the Electrical Phenomena of the Cerebral Cortex of Monkeys and Dogs," Beck showed proof of oscillations of electrical activity in the brain and the disruption of these patterns in response to sensory stimulation. Although he received three Nobel Prize nominations, the combined factors of writing in the Polish language, the novelty of his research, and the deliberate neglect of Jewish scientists in the early 20^th century led to obscurity.

Mary Brazier earned her PhD in 1930 at the University of London, and wrote over 250 articles and books, developing the field of computational EEG analysis.