Modern Technologies That Are Way Older Than You Think

Artificial heart - 1961

With help from Dr. Henry Heimlich, comedian and ventriloquist Paul Winchell filed his patent for the world's first artificial heart in 1961. The device includes a small battery pack worn outside the body that controlled the pumping mechanism within. While Winchell's design was accepted two years later, it wouldn't be until 1982 that Dr. Robert Jarvik's invention would get the first successful implantation in a human.