Robert Bárány made significant contributions to our understanding of the vestibular apparatu, part of the inner ear that plays an important role in maintaining balance. He devised tests to diagnose inner-ear disease and investigated the relationship between the vestibular and nervous systems. Because of his ground-breaking research in this area, he is credited with creating a new field of study, otoneurology. Bárány's achievements were recognized in 1914 with the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.

Bárány was born on April 22, 1876, in Rohonc (near Vienna), Austria-Hungary (now Austria), the eldest of six children. His father, Ignaz Bárány, was a bank official. His mother, Marie Hock Bárány, was the daughter of a well-known Prague scientist. A case of tuberculosis of the bone contracted when Bárány was young...