As the developer of the first effective heart defibrillator, Dr. Bernard Lown saved countless lives. In 1961, he formed Physicians for Social Responsibility and by 1980, along with a Russian friend and colleague, Yevgeny Chazov, had cofounded International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War — the winner of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. In endeavoring to prevent a nuclear conflict between the two superpowers, Lown was arguably responsible for global efforts to save effectively all lives on Planet Earth. Emigrating to the US from Lithuania with his family as a child, Lown grew up in Maine but was long associated with Harvard medical school in Boston, the city where he died on February 16 at 99. More
Photo:Dr. Bernard Lown, second from right, with IPPNW colleagues at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in 1985. Photo: IPPNW