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Surgery: The Bovie
Peter Bent Brigham
Hospital 1926
 Throughout
history people have used heat to cauterize wounds. By the late 19th century, heat
could be produced by electric current. In 1926, Harvard physicist William T. Bovie's
research into the effects of heat and radiation led him to invent an electrosurgical
knife, or Bovie. The device delivers high-frequency alternating current into the
body and can cut tissue or coagulate blood. First used for breast cancer where
it also helped to stop the spread of malignant cells, it was quickly adopted by
neurosurgeons for previously inoperable brain tumors. Though his innovative tool
is still used today, Bovie sold his patent for $1 and was not granted tenure at
Harvard.
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