Wilson Greatbatch
Wilson Greatbatch is an inventor who developed batteries for the early implantable cardiac pacemakers. He is a graduate of Cornell University and the State University of New York at Buffalo.
WILSON GREATBATCH is sometimes found, in on line searches, referred to as "the inventor of the cardiac pacemaker" which is incorrect but which should not demean the great contributions which 'Bill', as he was known to all the fraternity, made to cardiac pacemaking.
The first likely known clinical pacing of a heart may be credited to one Albert S. Hyman in Germany, ca. 1932-33, who created an assembly which from photographs comprised a hand cranked spring motor coupled to a magneto with a mechanical governor which controlled the 'pulse rate' of the magneto. The output from the magneto was coupled to two wires attached to electrode plates on the patient's chest. The earliest known creation of an implantable pacemaker was by Senning and Elquist of Sweden in 1958. For later history see artificial pacemaker and follow the history link.
Wilson Greatbatch improved upon the earlier work of Senning et al by creating the Chardack-Greatbatch pacemaker of 1960 which used Mallory mercuric oxide-zinc cells for it's energy source, coupled to a two transistor, transformer coupled blocking-oscillator circuit, all encapsulated in epoxy resin, then coupled to electrodes placed into the surface of the patient's heart. This innovation led to creation of the Medtronic company.
The greatest contribution to artificial pacemaking from Wilson Greatbatch came in 1971 when he introduced the lithium-iodide cell to all pacemaker developers. The lithium-iodide cell was developed and patented by Catalyst Research Corp.Inc. of Baltimore MD. By using two elements at near the ends of the electrochemical scale, the cell had a high cell voltage of 2.8 and an energy density near the physical maximum; but, it had an internal impedance which limited it's current load to under .0001 of an ampere; and thus was considered useless by CRC.
Wilson Greatbatch learned of the new development which had potential for cardiac pacemaker use where the current required was much less than .0001 of an ampere, and so commenced development of the principle. The early work, ca. 1969-1972, was conducted in a rented area of the derelict Wurlitzer Organ factory in Bullalo NY. Ralph Mead is understood to have headed the early electrochemical development.
When Greatbatch introduced the WG1 cell to pacemaker developers it was not met with enthusiasm except by a few. Those few benefited in that by 1975 the lithium-iodide cell, further developed by the Greatbatch company, was the energy source of choice for pacemaker use. The lithium-iodide cell manufactured by WG is now the standard cell for pacemakers, having the energy density, small size and reliability needed.
External links
Please note that the history as told by MIT does not give the complete story, read also the wiki-article artificial pacemaker.