Soler's invention: the question of original creation in the beginnings of Argentinean physiology.

Abstract

This article analyzes the process of creation and the main features of the "sphygmomanometer oscilographic", invented in 1915 by the Chief of Lab Activities of the Department of Physiology at the School of Medical Sciences, University of Buenos Aires, Dr. Frankl L. Soler. This device had the purpose of measuring blood pressure as well as its graphic recording. Due to the fact that this device was later questioned concerning its "originality" (1920), the article proceeds to a partial analysis of the debate which had, as one of its main topics, "originality in physiology". The article concludes that this controversy, carried by Soler and Juan Guglielmetti -a young disciple of Bernardo Houssay- was highly relevant for the constitution of a pure research field in the Argentinean physiology of the beggining of the century.