Wilson Greatbatch: 10 People Who Changed the Medtech IndustryWilson Greatbatch: 10 People Who Changed the Medtech Industry
Greatbatch, an engineer and the founder of Greatbatch Inc., invented the pacemaker.
June 6, 2013
Wilson Greatbatch, the inventor from Buffalo, NY, who referred to himself as a “humble tinkerer,” is responsible for one of the greatest medical device innovations of the 20th century. As he was trying to record the sound of the human heartbeat, he created a device that could emit pulses of electricity to the heart. With that, the modern implantable pacemaker was born.
After patenting the device in 1962, Greatbatch continued to invent new devices, leading to 350 patents over the course of his 92 years. He was a member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame and also received the National Medal of Technology and the Lemelson-MIT prize.
Among his most important achievements was his reimagining of lithium-ion batteries, which enable implanted medical devices to run for a decade or more. The pacemaker Greatbatch developed originally used mercuric oxide-zinc battery cells. The lithium/iodine anode/cathode battery was first deemed useless. However, Greatbatch pursued the technology, hoping to pair it with his pacemaker system. In 1970, he founded Greatbatch Inc. to develop the long-running lithium-iodine battery, which is now standard for pacemakers. The technology is small enough to not be intrusive and has a strong energy density to propel the device.
Greatbatch Inc. also developed the high-rate silver vanadium oxide battery to power the first ICD as well as the wet-tantalum high-voltage capacitor. These developments not only changed pacemakers, but also provided a power source for other medical devices, leading to innovations in devices such as insulin pumps, cochlear implants, and neurostimulators.
Greatbatch, who died in 2011, may be given more credit for the invention of the pacemaker, but the batteries he developed have been fueling medical devices and other electronics for decades. Although he was famously humble, remarking once that he wasn’t sure he would change the world, millions of patients, who have benefited from his pacemakers and batteries, would disagree.
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