English: Research began at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota under the guidance of Dr Edward H. Lambert, MD, PhD (1915–2003) in the early 1950s. With the assistance of his Research Technician, Ervin L Schmidt, a self taught electrical engineer, they developed a machine that could be moved from the EMG Lab, and was relatively easy to use. As oscilloscopes had no “store” or “print” features at the time, a Polaroid camera was affixed to the front on a hinge. It was synchronized to photo the scan. Fellows studying at Mayo soon learned that this was a tool they wanted, too. As Mayo has no interest in marketing their inventions, Mr. Schmidt went on to continue to develop them in his basement for decades, selling them under the name ErMel Inc.