INVENTOR

Bernard Lown

1921 - 2021

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Bernard Lown (June 7, 1921 – February 16, 2021) was a Lithuanian-American cardiologist and inventor. Lown was the original developer of the direct current defibrillator for cardiac resuscitation, and the cardioverter for correcting rapid disordered heart rhythms. He introduced a new use for the drug lidocaine to control heartbeat disturbances. Throughout his medical career, Lown focused on two major medical challenges: the problem of sudden cardiac death and the role of psychological stress on the cardiovascular system. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Bernard Lown is the 304th most popular inventor (up from 328th in 2019), the 131st most popular biography from Lithuania (up from 149th in 2019) and the most popular Lithuanian Inventor.

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Among INVENTORS

Among inventors, Bernard Lown ranks 304 out of 426Before him are Kálmán Kandó, L. L. Langstroth, Leonardo Torres y Quevedo, Bill Atkinson, Oleg Losev, and George Graham. After him are Ivan Kulibin, Marion Donovan, Walter Clopton Wingfield, Štefan Banič, Wilhelm Bauer, and Paul von Jankó.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1921, Bernard Lown ranks 274Before him are John Agar, Ida Fink, Buddy Rogers, Yevgeniya Rudneva, Chuck Connors, and Rinaldo Martino. After him are Ottavio Missoni, Carlo Parola, Jamie Uys, James Blish, Reinhard Mohn, and Roberto Tucci. Among people deceased in 2021, Bernard Lown ranks 330Before him are Angelica Bella, Nikolai Slichenko, Lee Wan-koo, Edmund Gettier, Ivo Trumbić, and Donald Kagan. After him are István Csom, Tomoyasu Asaoka, Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, Johnny Pacheco, Ronald Pickup, and Richard Lewontin.

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In Lithuania

Among people born in Lithuania, Bernard Lown ranks 131 out of 328Before him are Žemaitė (1845), Stanisław Witkiewicz (1851), Aušra Augustinavičiūtė (1927), Donald Kagan (1932), Vincas Krėvė-Mickevičius (1882), and Phoebus Levene (1869). After him are Henryk Gulbinowicz (1923), Steponas Darius (1896), Iosif Grigulevich (1913), Cornell Borchers (1925), Jurgis Baltrušaitis (1873), and Grigory Gershuni (1870).

Among INVENTORS In Lithuania

Among inventors born in Lithuania, Bernard Lown ranks 1