Jul 30, 2022
Inventor of CPR dies, after saving 25 million lives
The man who invented CPR, Dr. Guy Knickerbocker, died peacefully at 89 years of age last month.
He discovered the value of CPR accidentally, when he was working for the Edison Electric Institute to develop a defibrillator to treat utility linemen who suffered cardiac arrest.
In the lab on a Saturday morning in 1958, Dr. Knickerbocker realized the heavy copper electrodes in the study inadvertently compressed the chest of each subject, and that compression was helpful! He shared his findings with Dr. James Jude, and the two developed an approach for repeated chest compressions to prolong a patient’s survival until a defibrillator could be used.
In July of 1959 CPR was used for the first time to save a 35-year-old woman. Since that date, an estimated 25 million lives have been saved by CPR and a defibrillator. We salute Dr. Knickerbocker.
