Earl Bakken, pacemaker
Earl Bakken, pacemaker
Earl Bakken in 2010.
Photo:
David Brewster / Associated Press
The generous generation of millenarian socialists in the United States does not realize it, but is living on the prosperity created by previous generations of capitalists. One of them was Earl E. Bakken, who died last week at age 94 when he invented the first portable battery-powered pacemaker. He also co-founded
The giant company of medical devices.
The business life of Earl Bakken is an American classic. Born in Minnesota, he began making electrical tweaks at a young age after watching the movie "Frankenstein". In his autobiography he wrote that he was fascinated not with horror, but with the spark of electricity that brought the monster back to life.
He and a brother-in-law founded Medtronic in 1949 in a garage. He worked with local hospitals, and in 1957 a surgeon asked Bakken to create a pacemaker for the heart that would not depend on the hospital's electrical power. That was the spark of what later became an implantable pacemaker that has improved and saved countless lives.
Medtronic became a star of American innovation with a market capitalization of about $ 121 billion. Based in Minneapolis, it manufactures cardiac stents and monitors, surgical tools, neurological shunts, drug infusion systems and much more. Bakken retired as president in 1989.
He also became a philanthropist, as do many successful capitalists, donating to medical causes and founding the Bakken Museum in the Twin Cities area that focuses on the history of electricity, magnetism and medical technology.
In our frenzied celebrity culture, the lives of people who are not in politics or entertainment are often not recognized. This is especially true of the entrepreneurs who built the foundations of economic success and global post-war competitiveness in the United States. They benefited from what was then a better American educational system and, sometimes, from the IG bill after the Second World War (as Bakken did).
But they also thrived on a free market system that offered direct access to capital and rewarded innovation and success. Too many Americans see Medtronic today as just a big corporation, rather than a success born of ingenuity and hard work. As we remember the contributions of Bakken, we must promote policies and a broader culture that fosters this spirit of innovation and capitalist incentive.
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