Medical pioneer Willem Johan Kolff was an inspirational father, son, physician and inventor. He founded the development of the first kidney dialysis machine, pioneered advances in the heart and lung machine, laid down the foundations for the first mainland blood bank in Europe and successfully implanted the first artificial heart into humans.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
KolffWJ. Inventor for Life: The Story of W.J. Kolff, Father of Artificial Organs. Kampen: B&V media publishers, 2006
2.
KolffWJ. The development of renal hemodialysis. Nature2002;8:1063–5
3.
KolffWJ. First clinical experience with the artificial kidney. Annals of Internal Medicine1965;62:608–19
4.
Figure 1, courtesy of Freddy Schinkel, 1991
5.
MaughTH. Dr Willem Kolff dies at 97. Dutch physician built first kidney dialysis machine. Los Angeles Times. [Online] 14 February 2009. See http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-me-willem-kolff14-2009feb14,0,7488452.story (last accessed 3 November 2011)
6.
SheldonT. Obituary: Willem Kolff. British Medical Journal2009;338:b2027
7.
KolffWJ, JacobS. Forgotten facts of 1983 and 1973 lead to wearable artificial lung. American Society for Artificial Internal Organs2002;48:167
8.
BlakesleeS. Willem Kolff, Inventor of Kidney and Heart Machines, Dies at 97. The New York Times. [Online] 12 February 2009. See: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/health/13kolff-web.html (last accessed 3 November 2011)
9.
Burnett-KolffA. Email sent to Megan Morrissey. 3 November 2011
10.
Figure 2, courtesy of Willem Kolff Foundation, 2003
11.
Figure 3, courtesy of the National Academy of Engineering, 2003
