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
William Henry Richardson William Henry Richardson William Henry Richardson (December 5, 1808 – December 14, 1878) was an American physician and politician. Richardson, only son of Levi and Amelia (Trumbull) Richardson, was born in Chaplin, then a part of Mansfield, Conn., December 5, 1808. At an early age he moved with his parents to North Mansfield, Conn., where he resided much the greater part of his life. He pursued his medical studies, first with Dr. Archibald Welch of Mansfield, subsequently with Dr. Samuel B. Woodward of Wethersfield and Dr. Silas Fuller of Columbia, and at the medical school of Yale College, where he