This month marks the 50th anniversary of the first implantable pacemaker, a device developed by a Swedish company called Elema Schönander that was later purchased by St. Jude Medical. The patient was Arne Larsson at Sweden’s Karolinska Hospital, and the device apparently lasted only a few hours. The second device went to work for 3 days. But Arne Larsson was a believer in the technology, and went on to benefit from 26 different pacemakers over 43 years of his life.
The device on the right was the first battery powered, wearable cardiac pacemaker, developed around the same time by Earl E. Bakken, the founder of Medtronic. And so, fifty years on, the two companies are continuing to develop and perfect the lifesaving technology. Say Happy Birthday to the Pacemaker!
Arne Larsson’s story at St. Jude Medical…
Bakken Library and Museum online..
More from Star Tribune…
Pacemaker Celebrates 50th Birthday
October 1st, 2008 
Medgadget Editors the good old days...