1942 Penicillin1944 First test tube calf 1955 Polio vaccine1967 First heart transplant 1990 Genetic engineering2000? Nanotechnology First Heart Transplant Crash girl's heart saves dying man From the Daily Mail,  December 3 1967 The heart of a 25-year-old girl was beating inside a 56-year-old man here tonight after South African surgeons carried out the world's first successful transplant of a human heart. Mr Louis Washkansky, who was dying from heart disease, is the man given new life. It was said tonight: "He is doing very well." The heart which has replaced Mr Washkansky's was taken from Denise Darvall, who died after being hit by a car. Mr Washkansky, a businessman, has been ill for seven years and his condition had deteriorated in recent months. Louis Washkansky An official at Groote Schuur Hospital, Capetown, said: "This operation was his only chance. He was dying and wouldn't have lived longer than a few days." Surgeons at the hospital had been waiting for just the right circumstances for the transplant - the availability of a "spare" heart. It had to be used within half an hour of the donor's death. The opportunity came last night. Miss Darvall and her mother were knocked down by a car. Mrs Darvall died instantly and her daughter was taken to hospital, dying. Mr Edward Darvall wept as doctors told him that his daughter would not live. Then they asked him for her heart, to save Mr Washkansky. Blinded by tears, Mr Darvall hardly saw the documents he signed authorising the operation. Professor Christiaan Barnard headed the team of 30 doctors, many of whom were called in by a broadcast appeal. They stood by waiting. Miss Darvall and Mr Washkansky were put on heart-lung machines. That was the first stage of the operation. At 1 a.m. today, several hours after the accident, Miss Darvall died. Immediately her body was cooled down to about 28 degrees centigrade (82 degrees Fahrenheit). Her heart was removed and cooled further. The blood in the heart was kept in circulation by a pump, but the heart was not beating. It was kept in this state as stage three began - the removal of Mr Washkansky's heart - and maintained in those conditions for three hours. The fourth and most intricate stage of the operation was placing the new heart into Mr Washkansky's body, with connections to all arteries and veins. When the transplant was completed electrodes were placed against the heart walls and a high current switched on for a fraction of a second. One of the hospital's senior physicians, Professor Jan Louw, told me: "The heart started beating immediately. It was like turning the ignition switch on a car." Mr Washkansky was then gradually weaned off the heart pump. This took about an hour. His breathing was controlled by another machine. The operation lasted five hours, finishing at 6 a.m. Mr Washkansky was kept in the operating theatre for two more hours before being moved to a sterilised ward. At seven o'clock tonight he was conscious. The medical team knew the operation was going to be a success when Professor Barnard suddenly said: "Christ - it's going to work." After the final stitch he peeled off his gloves and said: "I need a cup of tea." Then he walked to a window and looked out silently over Table Mountain. He had tears in his eyes.