Bernard Lown

Bernard Lown was born into a Jewish family in Utena, Lithuania, and emigrated to Maine with his family in 1935 to escape rising European anti-Semitism. Earning his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University, he became professor of cardiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. In 1962, Lown invented the direct-current defibrillator, establishing electrical countershock as the safe standard for restoring normal heart rhythm in ventricular fibrillation, transforming emergency resuscitation globally.

Deeply committed to peace, Lown joined Soviet cardiologist Yevgeny Chazov in 1980 to co-found International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW). The organization mobilized hundreds of thousands of medical professionals across Cold War battle lines to educate world leaders on the medical catastrophes of nuclear conflict. In 1985, IPPNW was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, credited by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev with helping avert atomic war.