Pavia, September, 1961: a window on muscles and nerves

In September 1961, the First International Congress of Electromyography (EMG) was held at the University of Pavia. This event proved to be a sort of foundation stone for the further development of EMG as an organized field. Many of the most distinguished clinical neurophysiologists attended this congress and took an active part in it, delivering important lectures and scientific communications on the various aspects of EMG, including electroneurography. They included: Henri Gastaut, Fritz Buchthal, Jean Edouard Desmedt, Eric Kugelberg, Roger W. Gilliatt, John A. Simpson, Albrecht Struppler, Irena Hausmanowa-Petrusewicz, and Howard Edward Lambert. The congress was organized by Paolo Pinelli, at the time a young and brilliant clinical neurophysiologist who had learned the EMG procedure in Copenhagen under the guidance of Fritz Buchthal. Various scientific and social aspects of this important congress are outlined in this paper.