Christiaan Barnard

Christiaan Neethling Barnard (1922-2001) was a heart surgeon from South-Africa, who became known worldwide in 1967 for performing the world's very first open heart transplantation on one of his patients, in the Groote Schuur Hospital in Capetown?, South-Africa. The patient, a middle-aged man, survived the operation and lived for three more weeks. Barnard continued to improve his operation methods and had increasing success.