Biography

Wilson Greatbatch was born in Buffalo, NY, USA in 1919. He was granted a BEE degree from Cornell University in 1950, a MSEE degree from the University of Buffalo in 1957 and holds honorary ScD degrees from the State University of NY at Buffalo, Clarkson University, and Roberts Wesleyan College. He is a member of many professional societies and has been 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. He holds over 150 patents and has published over 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 is a NASPE member and was named NASPE’s Distinguished Scientist Award winner in 1984. He was also presented with the National Medal of Technology by President Bush in 1990. This award recognized Mr. Greatbatch for the invention of the implantable cardiac pacemaker of which he holds a patent (US Patent #3,036,274).

In 1986, Wilson Greatbatch was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Washington, DC, as one of sixty-three inventors who have been so honored. 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.

He is currently President and Board Chairman of Greatbatch Gen-Aid Ltd., a research and development corporation providing genetic engineering assistance to medicine and agriculture. His current principle interests are in 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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