Remembering Prof. George Poe: The Man who Raised the Dead
One hundred five years ago this month, a scientific giant quietly passed away in his sunlight-filled laboratory in South Norfolk, Virginia. At the time of his death, his fame was already starting to wane. But, just a few years prior, he was what we consider today a "Rock Star" in the medical and scientific world. Professor George Poe figured out how to revive the dead.
In the early 1900s, medical science was very different than today, to say the least. People who became breathless through drowning, asphyxia, accidents or the after effects of a cardiovascular event were essentially "dead". There was no effective means of cardiopulmonary resuscitation or rescue breathing. Many attempts were made to try to solve this problem, but none were successful. Then along came George Poe.
Poe, a chemist by education and profession, became enthralled with when life leaves the body, after witnessing some small animals spontaneously revive after asphyxiating on fumes in his chemical plant. He studied the human heart and lungs extensively, and patented several related devices associated with reviving patients, such as an oxygen generator. He never could get it exactly right, and then illness prevented him from going further and he retired.
It was in retirement that Poe found renewed inspiration by tutoring a young child prodigy, Arthur Frederick Ostrander, who was complete with high school work age 10, and was looking for a new challenge. Poe and Ostrander developed the device, and with the help of two South Norfolk physicians, successfully tested the device on animals, and performed many demonstrations on Poe's pet rabbit, Socrates. The device was patented and eventually sold to a company in Chicago, and Poe faded off in to the sunset, happy that he finally solved the problem which haunted him for years.
So, cheers, George Poe. Many of us who work in healthcare today owe you a great debt, as do the many patients who live today because you did not give up on your nearly life-long quest for knowledge. Whenever you hear the phrase attributed to Isaac Newton "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants", well, here is one of those giants, George F. Poe.
First in a series on the topic of the history of the "Machine for Inducing Artificial Respiration".