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The Galvanometer
The galvanometer read electrical impulses from animals brains. This technology would later lead to the electroencephalogram. Link text -
The Electrocardiogram
Dr. William Einthoven invented the first electrocardiogram, which weighed 600 pounds. Electrocardiograms are used to read electrical activity of the heart and detect issues. -
The Electroencephalogram
Dr. Hans Berger first recorded the electrical impulses of the brain with the electroencephalogram. Link text -
The Pacemaker
Dr. Alfred Hyman demonstrated a device that supplied the heart with a current that had an adjustable voltage. This was later named, the pacemaker. -
The Cardiac Defibrillator
Although the principle of defibrillation had been around for decades, Claude Beck was the first to use it successfully during cardiac surgery, bringing an apparently dead 14 year old boy back to life. Link text -
The Dialysis Machine
The first dialysis machine was built by Dr. Willem J. Kolff working with tin cans and parts from washing machines during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Dialysis machines are used for filtering a patient's blood to remove excess water and waste products when the kidneys are damaged, dysfunctional, or missing. -
The Commercial Ultrasound
Walter Erich Krause filed a patent for the first commercial ultrasound machine, which he said could be "used for practical ultra-sonic-optical examination to achieve a lifelike reproduction of the body part under examination." -
The CT Scanner
The first commercial CT scanner, used to create cross sectional images of the inside of your body with X rays, was developed by Dr. Godfrey Hounsfield. He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for theinvention. Link text -
The MRI
The MRI, or magnetic resonance imagining, system was invented by Dr. Raymond V. Damadian to distinguish the difference between normal and cancerous tissue.
