Bovie

For centuries, humans used cautery for treating trauma and disease. With technological advances in the late 19th century, electric current began producing heat for medical purposes. In 1920, William T. Bovie, a plant physiology doctorate holder and inventor, developed an electrosurgical unit that Harvey Cushing, a pioneering neurosurgeon, introduced to clinical practice. The Bovie unit, utilizing high-frequency alternating current for cutting or coagulating tissue, remains a crucial surgical tool over 75 years later.