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Werner Forßmann | |
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Born | Werner Theodor Otto Forßmann 29 August 1904 |
Died | 1 June 1979 | (aged 74)
Nationality | German |
Alma mater | University of Berlin |
Known for | Cardiac catheterization |
Awards | Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1956) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Medicine |
Werner Theodor Otto Forßmann (Forssmann in English; German pronunciation: [ˈvɛʁnɐ ˈfɔʁsˌman] ⓘ; 29 August 1904 – 1 June 1979) was a German researcher and physician from Germany who shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Medicine (with Andre Frederic Cournand and Dickinson W. Richards) for developing a procedure that allowed cardiac catheterization. In 1929, he put himself under local anesthesia and inserted a catheter into a vein of his arm. Not knowing if the catheter might pierce a vein, he put his life at risk. Forssmann was nevertheless successful; he safely passed the catheter into his heart.