Henry Heimlich Henry Heimlich Henry Judah Heimlich (; February 3, 1920 – December 17, 2016) was an American thoracic surgeon and medical researcher. He is widely credited as the inventor of the Heimlich maneuver, a technique of abdominal thrusts for stopping choking, described in "Emergency Medicine" in 1974. He also invented the Micro Trach portable oxygen system for ambulatory patients and the Heimlich Chest Drain Valve, or "flutter valve", which drains blood and air out of the chest cavity. Heimlich was born in Wilmington, Delaware, the son of Mary (Epstein) and Philip Heimlich. His paternal grandparents were Hungarian-Jewish immigrants, and his maternal
Henry Heimlich grandparents were Russian Jews. He graduated from New Rochelle High School (NY) in 1937 and from Cornell University (where he also served as drum major of the Cornell Big Red Marching Band) with a B.A. in 1941. At the age of 23, he received his M.D. from the Weill Cornell Medical College in 1943. At the time, the Flexner recommendations hadn't been implemented; thus, it was possible to graduate from an American medical school in two years. After medical school Heimlich served with the U.S. Navy in China during World War II, he developed an innovative treatment for victims of