01.10.2007 - 1907 - 2007 | Manfred von Ardenne | Episode 10: Variety of research without constraints

Exactly 100 years ago technical pioneer and inventor Manfred von Ardenne was born. It is on this occasion that we recount 12 episodes of the life of the founder and namesgiver of the company whose mentality and innovative strength we still feel obliged to.

The scientist Manfred von Ardenne disapproved of the dangers of „more and more specialized sciences and arts“, which for him lead to a „degeneration of the spiritual life“. In fact he pronounced himself in favor of “creating crosslinks between the specialized fields“. He himself provided a prominent example for this. In 1957 he created an international furor with the „swallowable intestinal sender”, a development he was significantly involved with. This probe measured pressure and pH-values in the gastric and intestinal tract and had a diameter of less than one centimeter and a length of just 26 mm. The probe passed the human organism within a couple of hours and continuously transmitted measuring values. For von Ardenne with this „electronics finally entered the field of medicine“.

From: G. Barkleit: "Manfred von Ardenne - Selbstverwirklichung im Jahrhundert der Diktaturen" (Manfred von Ardenne - Self-fulfilment in the Century of the Dictatorships), Publisher: Duncker & Humblot, Berlin (2006)