The Resume

(September 6, 1919-September 27, 2011)
Born in Buffalo, New York
Held over 300 patents
Invented the implantable cardiac pacemaker
Founded Greatbatch Inc to manufacture lithium-iodide batteries to power the pacemaker
Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame (1986)

Why he might be annoying:

He earned bad grades in math and the sciences in college.
He made the critical breakthrough in creating the pacemaker by accident when he plugged the wrong resistor in a circuit he was designing and, instead of oscillating as intended, the circuit produced a quick burst of electricity, stopped for a second, then repeated.
Of the first sixteen of his pacemakers that were implanted, ten had wire breakages, five had premature battery failures, one had an electrical component failure and three caused infections.
Although he had extensive lab facilities at his company, he continued to do most of his research in his home garage workshop.

Why he might not be annoying:

During World War II, he served in the Navy as an instructor, a radioman and a tailgunner in dive bombers.
He was married to Eleanor Greatbach for 65 years until her death.
He kept improving the pacemaker and its battery until their installation became practically routine.
In 1983, the National Society of Professional Engineers named his invention of the pacemaker one of the ten greatest engineering contributions of the past fifty years.
He said about inventing, 'Nine things out of ten won't work. The tenth will pay for the other nine.'

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• Bow Tie Wearers
• Brothers and Sisters, I Have None
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 38]
• I Attended Cornell
• I Died in 2011 (Ranked: 92)
• Inventors
• Look at Me, I'm Wearing a Bow Tie
• My Name is Wilson
• My Name, My Company
• Profiles 31751-32000 (Ranked: 31887)
• Served in World War II
• We Celebrated Our Golden Anniversary

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 13 Votes: 53.85% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 20 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 19 Votes: 52.63% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 26 Votes: 53.85% Annoying
In 2012, Out of 20 Votes: 20.0% Annoying
In 2011, Out of 54 Votes: 74.07% Annoying