Medical milestones, landmark publications, and notable births and deaths associated with December 13.

Events

1947 – Claude Schaeffer Beck (1894-1971) published in JAMA the first report of successful open-chest defibrillation in a human. He described reversal of prolonged ventricular fibrillation during surgery on a 14-year-old boy undergoing repair of pectus excavatum at Lakeside Hospital (Cleveland). The operation date is disputed but most commonly cited as March 14, 1847.

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Births

No major medical milestones added for this date yet — this page is being expanded

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Deaths

1962 – Charles Henry Hudson (1903-1962), American dentist; inventor of the Hudson Mask (1958), and the Hudson Pen-I-Sol Nebulizer

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Further reading