History

History of the Pacemaker



A pacemaker is a device that uses electrical impulses to control when the heart beats. Pacemakers are used to treat disorders that cause the heart to beat irregularly; these abnormal heart rhythms are known as arrhythmias, and when left untreated in some cases can cause death. Electrical activity within the heart was discovered during the 1800s by a Czech physiologist, Jan Evangelista Purkyně. Although this discovery took place in the 1800s, devices for artificially controlling the heart rate weren't invented until the 20th century. In 1932 Albert Hyman, an American physiologist, constructed an artificial pacemaker, powered by a hand-cranked motor. Hyman would later test his pacemaker on animals but never published any results of human studies. During this time artificial heart stimulation was controversial and compared to reviving the dead. 

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Not too long after WWII pioneers such as Earl Bakken and Paul Zoll successfully developed smaller more efficient pacemakers which were often worn as necklaces. In 1958 the first pacemaker to be inserted was given to Arne Larson in Sweden. This device only lasted for three hours. Larson received a second device that lasted two days. However, Larson would survive to live a long life, dying in 2001. Implanting electronic devices into human bodies presented many problems. Some components were too big until the invention of silicon transistors in 1956. The battery powering the pacemaker had an inconsistent life span until the invention of long-life lithium-ion batteries invented by Wilson Greatbatch. Clearly, there were ​​​​​​​many technological barriers that were broken during the development of the internal pacemaker.



1950's

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1950's

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1958

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2015

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2016

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Future

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