Walter Rudolf Hess was born in the Swiss town of Frauenfeld to Clemens and Gertrud (Fischer Saxon) Hess on March 17, 1881. He inherited a strong interest in science from his father, a physics teacher. After finishing high school, Hess began his college career, changing universities frequently and taking every opportunity to travel. He eventually received a medical degree from the University of Zurich in 1905, and took a hospital residency under the famous surgeon Dr. Konrad Brunner.

While working for Brunner, Hess designed an improved blood viscometer (to measure blood's thickness and consistency) and began thinking about research in earnest. He took a second residency in Zurich and specialized in ophthalmology (the physiology and diseases of the eye) under the mistaken impression that the discipline would allow him time to continue his circulatory system investigations. He indeed developed a successful ophthalmology practice with a good income, but it took up...