Werner Forssmann
German physician, Nobel prize winner (1904–1979)
Why this is trending
Interest in “Werner Forssmann” spiked on Wikipedia on 2026-02-25.
Categorised under Arts & Culture, this article fits a familiar pattern. wt.cat.arts.1
At GlyphSignal we surface these trending signals every day—transforming Wikipedia’s vast pageview data into actionable insights about global curiosity.
Key Takeaways
- Werner Theodor Otto Forßmann ( Forssmann in English; German pronunciation: [ˈvɛʁnɐ ˈfɔʁsˌman] ; 29 August 1904 – 1 June 1979) was a German researcher and physician from Germany who shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Medicine (with Andre Frederic Cournand and Dickinson W.
- In 1929, he put himself under local anesthesia and inserted a catheter into a vein of his arm.
- Forssmann was nevertheless successful; he safely passed the catheter into his heart.
- Upon graduating from Askanisches Gymnasium, he entered the University of Berlin to study medicine, passing the State Examination in 1929.
- The fear at the time was that such an intrusion into the heart would be fatal.
Werner Theodor Otto Forßmann (Forssmann in English; German pronunciation: [ˈvɛʁnɐ ˈfɔʁsˌman] ; 29 August 1904 – 1 June 1979) was a German researcher and physician from Germany who shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Medicine (with Andre Frederic Cournand and Dickinson W. Richards) for developing a procedure that allowed cardiac catheterization. In 1929, he put himself under local anesthesia and inserted a catheter into a vein of his arm. Not knowing if the catheter might pierce a vein, he put his life at risk. Forssmann was nevertheless successful; he safely passed the catheter into his heart.
Early life
Forssmann was born in Berlin on 29 August 1904. Upon graduating from Askanisches Gymnasium, he entered the University of Berlin to study medicine, passing the State Examination in 1929.
Career
He hypothesized that a catheter could be inserted directly into the heart, for such applications as directly delivering drugs, injecting radiopaque dyes, or measuring blood pressure. The fear at the time was that such an intrusion into the heart would be fatal. To prove his point, he decided to try the experiment on himself.
Content sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0
