On April 7, 1958 Dr. William C. Chardack, Dr. Andrew Gage, and I implanted the first self-powered implantable cardiac pacemaker in an experimental animal. In October of that year, Dr. Ake Senning in Stockholm attempted the first human implant. That device worked only 3 hours and then failed. A replacement device worked 8 days, after which the patient survived unstimulated for 3 years.
Two years later, in 1960, Dr. Chardack, Dr. Gage, and I implanted the first successful cardiac pacemaker in a human being. Since then, countless people’s lives have been saved.
Former President of GentCorp Ltd and Greatbatch Research Institute, Lancaster, NY
Interests:
- SVO (straight vegetable oil) for powering diesel engines
- Leadership in Transportation and Energy: beginning with Niagara Falls and the Erie Canal progressing up to Buffalo’s
leadership in automotive work at the turn of the century - Buffalo’s leadership in air transportation between WWI and WWII
Born: September 6, 1919 in Buffalo, New York
Contributions:
- over 100 articles to science journals
- holds 323 Patents (Foreign and United States)
- Philanthropist, has donated funds for Buildings at Houghton College and in the College (all or partial) tuition for over 2,500 students
Education:
- attended State Teacher’s College, 1940 (before WWII)
- BSEE (Bachelor of Electrical Engineering) Cornell University 1950
- MSEE (Master of Electrical Engineering at SUNY at Buffalo) 1957
Honorary Doctorates received in:
- Science, Houghton College, 1971
- Engineering, SUNY at Buffalo, 1984
- Science, Clarkson University, 1987
- Science, Roberts Weslyn College, 1988
- Science, D’Youville College, 2002
- Science, Washington & Jefferson College, 2005
- Science, Canisius College, 2006
National Hall of Fame and election to:
- Laufman Award, 1982
- Distinguished Service Award, NSPE-1984
- Holley Medal, ASME-1986
- Pacemaker Award, Prince Rainier of Monaco-1988
- Chancellor Morton Medal, University at Buffalo-1990
- National Medal of Technology, President Bush-1990
- Vladimir Karapetoff Award, Eta Kappa Nu-1992
- Paul Harris Fellow Rotary International-1993
- Washington Award, Western Engineering Society-1995
- Lemelson/MIT Career Achievement Award-1996
- Russ Prize-2001
Fellow:
- AAAS
- IEEEE
- ASME
- American College Cardiology
- Royal Society of Health
- American Society of Angiology
- American Institute Medical and Biological Engineering (Founder)
- New York Academy of Sciences
- Member, NAE
- Association for Advancement Medical Instrumentation
- Sigma Xi
- Tau Beta Pi
- Eta Kappa NU