Who invented the pace maker?

Answer 1

Cardiac pacemaker technology traces back to 1889 when J A McWilliam reported in the British Medical Journal of his experiments in which application of an electrical impulse to the human heart in asystole caused a ventricular contraction and that a heart rhythm of 60-70 beats per minute could be evoked by impulses applied at spacings equal to 60-70/minute.

Various forms of external and later implanted pacemakers were tested beginning in the late 1920s.

The first clinical implantation into a human of a fully implantable pacemaker was in 1958 at the Karolinska Institute in Solna, Sweden, using a pacemaker designed by Rune Elmqvist and surgeon Åke Senning. It failed after 3 hours but a second device was implanted and lasted for 2 days. The patient went on to receive 26 different pacemakers during his lifetime. He died in 2001, at the age of 86.

Implantable pacemakers constructed by engineer Wilson Greatbatch entered use in humans from April 1960. Unlike the Swedish version, which used rechargeable batteries this version used long-life, non-rechargable Mercury batteries and is the basis of the modern pacemaker.

In the late 1960s the mercury battery was replaced by the more reliable lithium-iodide battery.