Before December 3, 1967, heart transplantation lived in the borderland between science and myth, attempted in animals, debated in ethics circles, feared by even the boldest surgeons. Then, in Cape Town, South Africa, Dr. Christiaan Barnard and his team crossed that border.

That morning, Barnard performed the world’s first successful human-to-human heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital. The donor was 25-year-old Denise Darvall, who had been declared brain-dead after a car accident. The recipient was Louis Washkansky, a 53-year-old grocer suffering from terminal heart disease. The surgery worked: the new heart began beating in Washkansky’s chest.

Washkansky survived 18 days before dying of pneumonia triggered by the heavy anti-rejection drugs of the era, but the proof was already undeniable. A human heart could be moved from one body to another, and keep time. The world’s understanding of medicine, and what counts as possible, changed in a single night.

Thanks for reading,

The TTC Team

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