Schwan, Herman P.
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Herman P. Schwan was born 7 August 1915, in Aachen, Germany. He received Ph.D. degrees in physics and biophysics in 1940 and 1946 from the university of Frankfurt-am-Main. He was with the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics in Frankfurt from 1937 to 1947, and in 1961 was elected a Foreign Scientific Member of the Max Planck Society – a lifetime appointment.
In 1947 Schwan came to the United States where he worked as a biophysicist with the U.S. Navy. In 1950 he joined the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine. Since 1957 he has held several faculty appointments, including a Professorship of Electrical Engineering in Physical Medicine. In 1952 he joined the University's Moore School of Electrical Engineering as Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Director of its Electromedical Division. In 1957 Schwan became a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Moore School, and from 1961 to 1973 he served in the University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences as Chairman of the Department of Biomedical Electronic Engineering.
In 1957 Schwan served as a Visiting McKay Professor at the University of California at Berkeley. He also held the post of Visiting W.W. Clyde Distinguished Professor of Engineering at the University of Utah in 1980, and has been a Visiting Lecturer and Visiting Professor at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Frankfurt, respectively. He has also published approximately 250 scientific papers and presented more than 300 lectures and addresses. He is internationally known for his contributions to the nonionizing radiation hazard field, bioacoustics, electrode polarization studies, and for his work on the passive electrical and acoustic properties of biological systems. He has made pioneering contributions to the development of biomedical engineering, developed its first Ph.D. program, and is primarily responsible for the introduction of standards for safe microwave exposure used in most Western countries.
Schwan is a Fellow of the IEEE and the AAAS. His numerous awards and citations include the 1962 Philadelphia Section Achievement Award of the Institute of Radio Engineers, the 1967 W. J. Morlock Award of the IEEE, the 1974 Boris Rajewsky Prize for Biophysics, the 1980 U.S. Senior Scientist Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and the 1983 IEEE Edison Medal for a career of creative endeavor by which engineering, physics, biology, and medicine have been amalgamated into a coherent field of electromagnetic bioengineering. In addition, he has been a member of the National Academy of Engineering since 1975.
Among his many professional activities, Schwan served from 1952 to 1968 as a member, vice chairman, and chairman of various predecessor groups to the present IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. He is also a founder of the Biophysical Society and the Biomedical Engineering Society, and served in 1959 and 1965 as Chairman of the Annual Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology. He has been a member of the ANSI Committee C 95 on Electromagnetic Radiation Safety since 1961 and chaired both the Committee and its Subcommittee IV on Radiation Hazards from 1963 to 1970. He served on the National Environmental Health Council and on various groups for the National Institute of Health, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Research Council.
Schwan and his wife, Anne, were married in June, 1949. They have five children: Barbara, Margaret, Steven, Catherine, and Carolyn.
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