Friedrich Kraus

Friedrich Kraus (May 31, 1858 - March 1, 1936) was an Austrian internist. In 1894 he became a professor at the University of Graz, and was a director at the Charité Hospital in Berlin from 1902 until 1927.

Kraus is remembered for introducing electrocardiography and functional diagnostics into German medicine. With his assistant, Georg Friedrich Nicolai (1874-1955), he made several contributions in the field of electrocardiology, and in 1910 published the monograph, Das Elektrokardiogramm des gesunden und kranken Menschen (The Electrocardiogram of the Healthy and Ill Man).

Kraus researched the relationship of the nervous system's functional nature with mechanistic concepts. He demonstrated that living matter contained colloids and mineral salts, which when dissolved in a solution are electrolytes. He postulated that a type of bio-electrical system is present within the body which acted like a relay mechanism storing electrical charge (energy) and recharges (action). He explained this proposition in his book Allgemeine und spezielle Pathologie der Person (General and Special Pathology of the Individual). Kraus' theory concerning bio-electrics is considered a forerunner to psychologist Wilhelm Reich's (1897-1957) work with biophysics and body psychotherapy.