G. Guy Knickerbocker

(1932 - )
Born in the United States
Year of Discovery: 1957

Image: ECRI Institute Chief Scientist from 1972-2000

Engineeer's Discovery Leads to CPR Rescue Method!

In 1954 Guy Knickerbocker, a Baltimore native, began working toward his PhD in electrical engineering at Johns Hopkins University in the laboratory of William Kouwenhoven.  Many graduate students work long hours, conducting numerous repetitive experiments, hoping to be part of a scientific discovery that will have a tremendous impact.  Guy Knickerbocker’s hard work and persistence paid off, because it was his key observation that led to the development of devices to restart a stopped or trembling heart and  a method to sustain circulation long enough to save lives.   “ A chance observation to a fertile young mind.” – James Jude, M.D.

The team of Jude, Kouwenhoven and Knickerbocker duplicated and elaborated on the experiments and eventually found that they could extend the time to successful defibrillation (heart re-starting) and survival of a dog to over an hour with external massage by way of chest compressions.  The first documented, successful case of their method being used on a human patient, a 35 year old woman, was in July 1959. 

In the early 1960s Dr. Kouwenhoven and either Dr. Jude or Knickerbocker travelled the United States and Puerto Rico presenting their method of external cardiac massage, combined with mouth to mouth resuscitation to result in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR).  Sometimes during the teaching presentations, Knickerbocker would expose his chest, lie down and become the model for the others to demonstrate on.  In 1962 a training video called "The Pulse of Life” was created by Jude, Knickerbocker and Peter Safar.    Kouwenhoven, Jude and Knickerbocker received the Hektoen Gold Medal of the American Medical Association for their work.

Knickerbocker had studied and was quite fluent in Russian.  He travelled to Russia and spent 3 months working on resuscitation research with the Negovsky laboratory in Moscow.  At this time Moscow was still behind Russia’s Iron Curtain, but his visit illustrated that scientific discovery and collaboration could flow freely.

Knickerbocker’s dedication to the perfection and promotion of CPR also had a personal connection; his father had CPR performed on him successfully when his heart stopped beating in 1963 while recovering from a heart attack.

Introduction by April Ingram

Table of Contents

Key Insight

Key Experiments or Research

Quotes by the Scientist

Quotes About the Scientist

Anecdotes

Fun Trivia About the Science

Personal Information

Scientific Discovery Timeline

Recommended Books About the Science

Books by the Scientist

Books About the Scientist

Awards

Major Academic Papers Written by the Scientist

Curriculum Vitae

Sources/References