Rune Elmqvist

Summary

Rune Elmqvist (1906–1996) developed the first implantable pacemaker in 1958, working under the direction of Åke Senning, senior physician and cardiac surgeon at the Karolinska University Hospital in Solna, Sweden.

Rune Elmqvist
Elmqvist [centre], Senning & Crafoord, 1954.
Born1906
Lund, Sweden
Died1996
NationalitySwedish
EducationLund University
OccupationEngineer
Engineering career
DisciplineMedicine
ProjectsInvented first implantable pacemaker
AwardsHonorary Doctorate

Elmqvist initially worked as a medical doctor (having trained in Lund), but later worked as an engineer and inventor.

In 1948, he developed the first inkjet ECG printer[1] which he called the mingograph while working at Elema-Schönander, a company which later became Siemens-Elema. In 1957, he received an honorary doctorate.

In 1960, he became head of development at Elema-Schönander. Siemens-Elema's pacemaker operations were sold to the American company Pacesetter Systems in 1994, which was subsequently sold to St Jude Medical.

References edit

  1. ^ "A (not so) brief history of electrocardiography". ECG Library. 2006-01-03. Archived from the original on 2012-02-02. Retrieved 2021-01-11.