On this day - 4 April

Although such devices had been previously implanted into animals, the first implantation of a full artificial heart into a human took place on April 4th 1969. The device was implanted as a bridging tool until a suitable non-artificial heart could be sourced. The surgery was performed by Domingo Liotta and Denton Cooley and took place in Texas.

Following the surgery, the recipient woke up and began to recover. 64 hours later a further surgery replaced the artificial heart with a donor heart but the patient died due to a postoperative fungal lung infection. This still marked a major medical breakthrough at the time.

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Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil rights activist who played a key role in the fight against legalised racism. He won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. On April 4th 1968 he was assassinated by a fatal shooting. The perpetrator of the shooting is disputed, with James Ray Earl convicted in a criminal case but a later civil case Loyd Jowers was found to be involved in a conspiracy plot to assassinate Luther King.

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