Chemistry: This Day in Science History - August 20 - Werner Forssmann

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This Day in Science History - August 20 - Werner Forssmann Aug 19th 2011, 22:05 August 20th is Werner Forssmann's birthday. He was a German physician who first inserted a catheter into a person directly into the heart. He was also the first person to have this procedure done. As an intern in cardiology he believed drugs could be administered directly to the heart with a catheter without killing the patient. To prove it could be done, he inserted a catheter in his own antecubital vein and, catheter dangling from his arm, proceeded to climb two flights of stairs to get an x-ray to document the catheter's position in his right atrium. This stunt earned him the ire of his superiors and he faced disciplinary action and changed his internship to urology. During World War II, he served in the German army as a doctor until he was captured and sat out the war in a prisoner of war camp. After the war, he worked as a lumberjack and country doctor until in 1956 he was surprised to receive part of the 1956 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his medical school "stunt". Find out what else occurred on this day in science history. Follow Chemistry on Facebook or Twitter.

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