The implantable pacemaker came from grabbing the wrong resistor.
In 1956 engineer Wilson Greatbatch was building a heart-rhythm recorder, fitted the wrong part, and the circuit began pulsing just like a heartbeat.
More amazing facts
- 1955 Einstein's brain weighed 1,230 grams, well within the normal human range.
- 1955 The Guinness Book of Records was created to settle pub arguments.
- 1956 In autumn 1956 the world watched two crises at once: the Anglo-French landing at the Suez Canal and Soviet tanks in Budapest.
- 1956 The 1956 Melbourne Olympics were partly held in Stockholm.
- 1956 The first Eurovision, in 1956, had just seven countries, each singing two songs.
- 1956 · 1957 Both Play-Doh and bubble wrap began as wallpaper products.