Barouh Vojtec Berkovits (May 7, 1926 – October 23, 2012) was one of the pioneers of bio-engineering, particularly the cardiac

defibrillator Defibrillation is a treatment for life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, specifically ventricular fibrillation (V-Fib) and non-perfusing ventricular tachycardia (V-Tach). A defibrillator delivers a dose of electric current (often called a ''coun ...

and artificial cardiac pacemaker. In particular, Berkovits invented the " demand pacemaker" and the DC defibrillator.

Biography

Berkovits was born in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. His parents and sister were murdered at

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

. He immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in the 1950s, and worked for the pacemaker company

Medtronic Medtronic plc is an American medical device company. The company's operational and executive headquarters are in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and its legal headquarters are in Ireland due to its acquisition of Irish-based Covidien in 2015. While it ...

from 1975 until his retirement. In 1982, Berkovits received the "Distinguished Scientist Award" from the Heart Rhythm Society. He graduated from the New York University Tandon School of Engineering in 1956. He was also a faculty member at NYU Tandon.

References

Cardiac electrophysiologists 1926 births 2012 deaths American bioengineers People from Lučenec Polytechnic Institute of New York University faculty Polytechnic Institute of New York University alumni {{biologist-stub