Robert Jarvik

Henry Cutler
 Thesis

Robert Jarvik impacted Utah because he

advanced medical technology by creating the
first artificial heart.
 Life
Robert Jarvik was born in Michigan in 1946, and is still alive today. Even
as a teenager, he invented useful medical devices like a surgical
stapler. He was a student at the University of Utah, and graduated
from there with an MD after going to medical school.

https://www.medicalexpo.com/
prod/reach-surgical/product-77
https://yallacountmein.org
122-468194.html
/states/michigan
https://www.regionaladmissions.
com/school-directory/university-
of-utah
Toy Image

As a young adult
Present Day

https://www.jarvikh
https://agentgallery.com/news/2015/1 eart.com/about-us/
/7/jarvik-7-artificial-heart
robert-jarvik-md/
 Context

Robert Jarvik was alive after World War II, and was also alive during the
start of the Cold War. When he made his most famous and useful
invention, the Jarvik-7 Artificial Heart, is was around 1980.
 Impact on Utah

Robert Jarvik’s impact on Utah was creating inventions that saved lives,
specifically the artificial heart. Without Robert Jarvik, heart transplants
would’ve continued in the way that they were being done, which is less
safe and has a higher chance of failure.

https://magazine.washington.edu/feature/50-years-after-breakthrough-at
-uw-heart-bypass-remains-state-of-the-art/
 How Robert Jarvik’s Heart Works

His Jarvik-7 heart worked by having two air pumps. It used these and
artificial chambers to let blood flow. It was attached to the body with
drivelines, which stuck out of the left side of the body.
 Place Set

The place set of Robert Jarvik and his allies would be an operating
theater, which is a place where surgeries are “performed” for a live
audience of people watching. There would even be fake people in the
stands looking down at the surgery.
 Accessories
The accessories for Robert Jarvik and all of his allies would be a surgical
table, a person with a hole in their chest, and the artificial heart that
each person made. For Robert Jarvik, that would be the Jarvik-7 heart.
This allows people to mix and match different kinds of artificial hearts
into the bodies of patients.
https://icon-icons.com/icon/tall-human-silhouette
/70362

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-i
https://www.steris-healthcare.com/products/surg
ical/kernatm-general-surgical-table nstitution/thirty-years-ago-artificial-heart-helped
-save-grocery-store-manager-180956388/
 Allies / Collect Them All

This first ally is Charles Lindbergh, who created the Lindbergh Pump that
allowed blood to continue to flow through the body, even during a surgery.
He also was a famous pilot who broke many prestigious records.

https://collection.sciencemuseumgrou
p.org.uk/objects/co114461/charles-a-li
ndbergh-perfusion-pump-pump https://www.biography.com/history-culture/charles-lindbergh
 Allies / Collect Them All
The next is Vladimir Demikhov, who made the first total artificial heart that
replaces the lower half of the heart, and performed the first surgery for it.
He is also famous for creating the first two-headed dog.

https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ https://allthatsinteresting.com/vla
wk/mat/2016/00000062/00000001/art000 dimir-demikhov-two-headed-dog
22?crawler=true
 Allies / Collect Them All
Finally, Dr. John H. Gibbon, who invented the heart-lung
machine, which is a machine that performs the functions of
the heart and the lungs simultaneously.

https://www.jcvaonline.com/article/S1053-077 https://magazine.jefferson.edu/issues/fa
0(12)00570-8/abstract ll-2020/heart-and-lung.html
 Historical Significance

Short-Term Impacts Long-Term Impacts

• Created a new
way of doing • Made the basis
heart surgery of permanent
• Made useful artificial hearts
inventions that we use
today.
 Arch Nemesis

The arch nemesis of

Robert Jarvik would be an
embodiment of all the
diseases that affect the
heart.
Picture of Arch Nemesis Toy Design
 Different Perspectives

In contrast, some people argue that other artificial hearts were in

construction, so Robert Jarvik’s was not needed and was not important.
However, his design was incredible, and countless people would’ve lost
their lives during heart surgery without it.

https://www.statnews.com/2017/08/16/coronary-bypass-he
art-pump/