Ultrasound History

Ultrasound is one of the most vital inventions in women health care. The advancement of wave technology throughout history formed the basis for the ultrasound. Ultrasound history is embedded in innovations on wave technology (Woo, 2015). Earlier designs of ultrasonic devices were not in the field of medicine until in the 1950s (Woo, 2015). Even then, the devices were employed for therapy before they were improved and used for diagnosis.

Ultrasonic are waves that have a high frequency that cannot be detected by a human being. The waves were first unearthed by an Italian known as Lazarro Spallanzani in 1794. The information was used by a physicist Jean-Daniel Colladon to measure sound waves in Lake Geneva by using a bell in 1826 (Woo, 2015). This was supplemented by physicists who studied the transmission and propagation of these vibrations. They learned a lot about the properties of these waves, consequently in 1880, the Curie brothers discovered that electric potential is produced when pressure is exerted on certain crystals (Russell & Crawford, 2013). The Curie brothers employed this discovery in creating echo sound devices.

The navy adopted the technology for use by submarines to detect objects in the water.

The knowledge from these earlier devices was integrated to develop ultrasonic devices in the medical field. Ultrasonic devices were first used on animal tissues in the 1920s. The technology was applied as therapy because of its heating and other effects on tissues. Ultrasound consequently moved into the operating theater where the waves were used in brain surgeries (Eklöf, Lindström, & Persson, 2011). It gained full use in the treatment of various diseases in the 1940s despite the insufficient scientific evidence. Tissue damage and injury were reported as effects of this treatment strategy restricting further development of ultrasound in