Bernard Lown — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

Bernard Lown (June 7, 1921 – February 16, 2021) was a Lithuanian-American cardiologist and inventor. Lown was the original developer of the direct current defibrillator for cardiac resuscitation, and the cardioverter for correcting rapid disordered heart rhythms. He introduced a new use for the drug lidocaine to control heartbeat disturbances.

Throughout his medical career, Lown focused on two major medical challenges: the problem of sudden cardiac death and the role of psychological stress on the cardiovascular system. His investigations led to many medical break-throughs, among them the coronary care unit. His work made possible and safe much of modern cardiac surgery, as well as a host of other innovations. In 1985, Lown accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, an organization he co-founded with Soviet cardiologist Yevgeny Chazov, who later was Minister Of Health of the USSR.

Lown was Professor of Cardiology Emeritus at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Senior Physician Emeritus at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. He was the founder of the Lown Cardiovascular Center and Lown Cardiovascular Research Foundation. He also founded the Lown Institute, which aims to reform both the healthcare system and society.

Lown was born in Utena, Lithuania as Boruch Lac, on June 7, 1921, the son of Nison and Bela (Grossbard) Lac. His family was Jewish, and one of his grandfathers was a rabbi. They emigrated to Maine when Lown was 14, and he attended Lewiston High School, graduating in 1938.

Lown went on to study zoology at the University of Maine, obtaining a bachelor's degree from that institution in 1942. He subsequently earned an M.D. from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1945. His medical training included Yale-New Haven Hospital (Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut); Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY; and a cardiology fellowship at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (now Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in Boston). His mentor in cardiology was the renowned clinical cardiologist Samuel A. Levine...

Lown married Louise Lown, a cousin of his, in 1946. They remained married until her death in 2019. Together, they had three children: Anne, Fredric, and Naomi.

Lown died on February 16, 2021, at his home in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. He was 99, and suffered from congestive heart failure and pneumonia prior to his death.

From: Wikipedia