We can trace electrosurgery as we know it today to the work of William T. Bovie, PhD, a physicist who pioneered research in high-frequency electrical power. In 1924, fellow Harvard academic Harvey W. Cushing, MD, a neurosurgeon and professor of surgery, saw Dr. Bovie's device in action: "I happened to see Dr. Bovie's electrified loop being used for the purpose of bloodlessly scooping out bits of malignant tissue for examination," he wrote. "I realize that here was a new tool which might possibly be utilized." The Liebel-Flarsheim Company in 1927 manufactured the first commercially produced electrosurgical unit of a Bovie design.