Dr Wilson Greatbatch died in 2011; he was responsible for the development of which device, inserted into the human body to aid survival?
Wilson Greatbatch graduating with a B.E.E. in electrical engineering in 1950; he received a master's degree from the University of Buffalo in 1957. Wilson loved fiddling with objects and this would lead to other great things. The "Chardack-Greatbatch" pacemaker used Mallory mercuric oxide-zinc cells (mercury battery) for its energy source, driving a two transistor, transformer coupled blocking oscillator circuit, all encapsulated in epoxy resin, then coupled to electrodes placed into the myocardium of the patient's heart. This patented innovation led to the Medtronic company of Minneapolis commencing manufacture and further development of artificial cardiac pacemakers. In 1968, Catalyst Research Corporation of Baltimore,
Wilson Greatbatch assisted Greatbatch in his research, when he was unable to generate support, providing him with lab space and research assistance. In 2009, Wilson and Eleanor Greatbatch donated approximately $10 million to create a modern glass reception and interpretive pavilion, called the "Eleanor and Wilson Greatbatch Pavilion", separate from the Darwin D. Martin House Complex. It was designed by Toshiko Mori, chair of the department of architecture at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. Wilson Greatbatch died at the age of 92 on September 27, 2011. Greatbatch served as an elder at Clarence Presbyterian Church, where he also sang in the church