Meet Dr. Bernard Lown…inventor of the defibrillator

     Ask any doctor or paramedic who has been around awhile about what it was like to use an early model defibrillator and you’ll hear about how big and heavy they used to be. AEDs weren’t even on the radar back then.

The very first external defibrillator was developed by Dr. Bernard Lown in the 1960’s after reading a paper written by Dr. Paul Zoll. (The ZOLL name should be familiar to our readers by now!) It weighed over 60 lbs and was anything but portable. But it was the first major step in changing the way sudden cardiac arrest and other heart arrhythmias were treated and the technology applies today to AEDs.

The portable defibrillators you’ll find at the AED Superstore weigh less than 60 lbs…we promise!