In 1956, an electrical engineer grabbed the wrong resistor and helped create the life-saving pacemaker

An inventor, Wilson Greatbatch, accidentally created a regular beat while working on a heart sound recorder. He realized this pulse could stimulate the heart. This mistake led to years of engineering and collaboration. Greatbatch's work, along with surgeon William Chardack, transformed external pacing systems into implantable devices. Hundreds of thousands of patients benefit from these life-saving technologies today.