Science, Medicine & Engineering
Peerless
Christiaan Barnard
1922 – 2001
Performed the world's first human heart transplant
Peerless is level 1 of 4 in the South Africa Hall of Fame: changed the field itself. Tell the country's story without them and the story breaks. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
In December 1967, at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, he carried out the first human-to-human heart transplant — a procedure the rest of the world had not yet dared attempt.
Barnard's first transplant patient, Louis Washkansky, survived eighteen days with his new heart before dying of pneumonia. The operation nonetheless proved the procedure possible and made Barnard internationally famous overnight.
The surgery was performed in Cape Town, not in one of the better-funded research centres then racing toward the same goal.
The surgery was performed in Cape Town, not in one of the better-funded research centres then racing toward the same goal.
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