There are few pieces of medical equipment that have perhaps saved more lives in life-or-death situations than the defibrillator.

Designed to help restart a heart that stops beating properly, a defibrillator uses electricity to jolt the heart and restore the electrical impulses that control its beat. 

Contrary to popular belief, it cannot restart a heart that has stopped, but in combination with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), it can help restore a heart’s normal rhythm and potentially save a person’s life in those early critical moments of an emergency situation.

Who invented the defibrillator? It is a much more complex question, as the concept was showcased decades before it would be an active part of emergency first aid.

Who First Demonstrated The Defibrillator?

As early as 1899, Jean-Louis Prevost and Frederic Batelli demonstrated the effects of electricity on the heart, deliberately inducing ventricular fibrillation in dogs.

What they found is that small jolts of electricity could destabilise the heart, but this could be reversed by using larger electrical charges.

This paved the way for the defibrillator, but it would take decades for this presentation to be applied to emergency care.

Who First Used A Defibrillator On A Human Patient?

By the 1930s, defibrillators were starting to be developed as an alternative to using chemical cardioversion to restore a normal heartbeat, although the methods for doing so were still somewhat invasive and only viable during surgery.

The Hyman Otor, developed by Albert and C.Henry Hyman, was a large needle that was injected directly into the heart, but rather than being used to inject drugs, it instead delivered an electrode that shocked the heart directly.

Whilst there was some merit in the concept, it was considered to be a medical failure.

At around the same time, William Kouwenhoven developed an external defibrillator, but it would take another 17 years for Professor Claude Beck to use it on a human patient.

During open heart surgery, where the patient’s ribs were already open, the defibrillator was used to treat a 14-year-old boy to restore his natural heart rhythm after 45 minutes of direct cardiac massage whilst waiting for the machine to arrive, be plugged in and prepared.

When Was The Modern External Defibrillator First Used?

In the 1950s, a revolution was developed that allowed for higher voltage defibrillators to be used directly on the ribcage without the chest cavity having to be opened.

Dr V Eskin developed the first defibrillator to use external electrodes in the mid-1950s, but it would not be until Bernard Lown and Barouh Berkovits developed an external defibrillator that was lighter, had the potential for portability and would form the basis for modern defibrillators.

How Has The Defibrillator Evolved?

• The concept was developed by Jean-Louis Prevost and Frederic Batelli in 1899.

• The external defibrillator was invented in 1930 by William Kouwenhoven, but was only first used on a person in 1947.

• Dr V. Eskin developed the first closed-chest defibrillator.

• In the early 1960s, Professor Frank Pantridge innovated a portable defibrillator.

• Modern examples can automatically detect heart rhythms and can be used by anyone.