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Memorial Tributes Volume 23 (2021) / Chapter Skim
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EARL E. BAKKEN
Pages 20-27

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From page 21...
... Because in high school he had earned a US government license qualifying him to operate a commercial radio station, he was assigned to be an instructor of electronic equipment maintenance. His specialty became teaching technicians how to maintain precision 21
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From page 22...
... The backdrop was the transformative cardiac surgery advances being developed at the University of Minnesota in the 1950s. Cardiopulmonary bypass machines that served as a patient's temporary heart and lungs made it possible to surgically correct congenital heart defects through open-heart procedures.
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From page 23...
... While investigating this idea, Bakken conceived a different solution consisting of a portable, battery-powered, "wearable" cardiac pacemaker that employed recently available transistors rather than power-hungry vacuum tubes. He remembered having read an article in a recent issue of Popular Electronics magazine detailing the construction of a transistorized ­metronome.
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From page 24...
... In addition to his technical leadership and innovation, Bakken was a firm believer that corporations have a purpose that extends beyond maximizing financial returns. In 1960 he published Medtronic's mission statement, an aspirational basis for corporate comportment that remains essentially unchanged and has been espoused by the company's subsequent leaders.
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From page 25...
... Perhaps paradoxically as an engineer of his era, Bakken advocated for a high-tech and high-touch approach to medicine. To further this concept, he founded the North Hawaii Community Hospital to better serve the medical needs of the community with state-of-the-art technology and at the same time enhance the patient experience by minimizing the emotional stresses of being away from home in a b ­ ustling, unfamiliar environment.
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From page 26...
... And in 1999 Medtronic provided a grant to the Society of Thoracic Surgeons to establish the Earl Bakken Scientific Achievement Award to honor individuals who have made outstanding scientific contributions that have enhanced the practice of cardiothoracic surgery and patients' quality of life. Earl Bakken fully lived his mantra: "Living on, giving on, dreaming on." His first marriage, in 1948 to Connie Olson, ended in divorce in 1979.
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Key Terms

  • heart defects
  • electrical engineering
  • cardiac surgery
  • mission statement
  • power supply

  • biological engineering
  • device industry
  • electronic medical
  • bakken medical
  • medical equipment

  • patient health
  • device served
  • jeffrey bakken
  • wife linda
  • personal health

  • beyond maximizing
  • medical technology
  • rapidly expanding
  • equipment repair
  • honorary fellow

  • communications technology
  • aspirational basis
  • frankenstein experience
  • uninterruptible power
  • harbor december

  • financial returns
  • bakken conceived
  • medtronic provided
  • outstanding scientific
  • steady clicking


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