1919 – 2011

Biography

Wilson Greatbatch, born in Buffalo, NY, USA in 1919, died September 27, 2011 at the age of 92 (read New York Times obituary). He was granted a BEE degree from Cornell University in 1950, a MSEE degree from the University of Buffalo in 1957 and held honorary ScD degrees from the State University of NY at Buffalo, Clarkson University, and Roberts Wesleyan College. He was a member of many professional societies and was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, the British Royal Society of Health, the American College of Angiography, and the American Association for Advancement of Science. Mr. Greatbatch had more than 150 patents and published more than 100 papers in the pacemaker and power source fields.

Mr. Greatbatch designed and built the first completely implantable pulse generator in the United States in collaboration with surgeon William Chardack. Successfully implanted in 1960, this generator was the ancestor of a generation of pacers powered by mercury batteries. He and his co-workers introduced the lithium battery to pacemaker usage in 1970-1972, which greatly extended pacemaker longevity.

Wilson Greatbatch was one of the original 100 founding members of the Society (then known as NASPE) and was involved in the Society and field from its beginning. He was awarded the Society's Distinguished Scientist Award winner in 1984. He was also presented with the National Medal of Technology in 1990 by U.S. President George H.W. Bush. This award recognized Mr. Greatbatch for the invention of the implantable cardiac pacemaker — Mr. Greatbatch holds U.S. Patent #3,036,274 for this critical invention.

In 1986, Wilson Greatbatch was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Washington, DC. In 2001, he was named, along with Medtronic founder, Earl Bakken, as the initial recipient of the Russ Prize, a $500,000 award which was established to recognize creation and innovation in engineering.

In his later years, Mr. Greatbatch was President and Board Chairman of Greatbatch Gen-Aid Ltd., a research and development corporation providing genetic engineering assistance to medicine and agriculture. Until his death he remained interested and informed on electronic control of tissue growth, electronic control of infection, implantable drug infusion devices, and genetic engineering.

Interview Excerpts

Invention of portable power supplies for device patients (57 sec; Real Audio)

Learning about heart block (27 sec; Real Audio)

Skepticism surrounding work on heart block (23 seconds)

Early design troubles with pacemakers (1:35 seconds)

Improving pacemakers by mistake (1:56 seconds)

Adding silver to improve batteries for pacing (52 seconds)

Being part of the conscience of the pacemaker industry (46 seconds)

The $40 pacemaker (39 seconds)

Trying to save 10,000 lives each year with pacemakers (24 seconds)

Early experimental procedures on heart block (1:31 seconds)

The independence of his work (12 seconds)

Excerpted from this interview:
Interviewer: Seymour Furman, MD
Date: February 16, 1996
Place: Bronx, New York
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