In constructing a historical context in which to view the discipline of electrodiagnostic medicine, it is diffcult to determine a logical starting point. It is an elementary argument to assert that the biological underpinnings of the discipline date easily back to Galvani and Volta in the eighteenth century. Although these scientifc pioneers played seminal roles in characterizing the role of electricity in the function of muscle and nervous tissue, some would credit even earlier observers with reporting the phenomenology that Galvani characterized as “the energy of life”. Ultimately, it is the translational process of applying fundamental biological principles to the investigation of human disease, which has permitted the evolution of our discipline. Admitting a large measure of arbitrariness reinforced by a limited historical perspective of the scientifc zeitgeist of successive eras of neurobiologists, I have cobbled together a decidedly imperfect, but well intentioned, snapshot of the conceptual ontogeny of electrodiagnostic medicine and its adaptation to pediatrics. I should apologize to bioengineers who will note that I have given short shrift to the technical aspects of the development of clinical electrophysiology. The evolution of our discipline has not been predominantly hypothesis driven but rather has been a captive of technology and has grown at a logarithmic pace as new methodologies have been adapted to investigate human neuromuscular physiology. Let me add one further disclaimer; I have not attempted to acknowledge the role of individual contributions to the body of knowledge but rather the evolution of our ongoing integration of basic scientifc information into the understanding of the biological substrate of neuromuscular disease.