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40 PCB007 MAGAZINE I NOVEMBER 2018 Born in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, Bakken graduat- ed from high school in 1941 and enlisted in the Army Sig- nal Corps where he served in World War II as a radar in- structor. After leaving the army, he attended the Univer- sity of Minnesota, earning a degree in electrical engineer- ing. As a graduate student, Bak- ken worked part-time repair- ing delicate lab equipment at Northwestern Hospital in Min- neapolis. Demand for these services grew, and on April 29, 1949, Bakken and Hermundslie formed a business partnership. They named the company Medtronic with its headquarters in a modified garage in northeast Minneapolis. While installing and servicing devices used during early open-heart surgeries, Bakken and Hermundslie built relationships with physi- cians at in the local area. The late C. Walton Lillehei, a young staff surgeon at the time, pio- neered procedures to help "blue babies" born with often-lethal heart defects. Following a power outage in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota) that caused the death of an infant, Dr. Lillehei asked Bakken to find a solution. Bakken responded by building the world's first wearable, transistorized pacemaker. He adapted a circuit described for a transistorized electronic metronome in the magazine Popular Electronics. This milestone is viewed by many as the birth of Medtronic. However, pacemak- ers were only one product in a growing and in- creasingly diverse product line. In 1960, in an effort to more clearly define Medtronic's values and areas of concentration, Bakken wrote Medtronic's mission, which has guided the company and remains unchanged. In 1994, Bakken moved to the Big Island of Hawaii. As a resident, he was a prominent vol- unteer and philanthropist. He became Chair- man of the Board of Directors of the Five Mountain Medical Community as it developed the North Hawaii Community Hospital. While on the board, he also helped to establish Tutu's House— a community resource cen- ter promoting careers, edu- cation, and effective health outcomes—and the Kohala Center, a community-based center for research, conser- vation and education. In 1975, he founded The Bakken Museum—a nonprof- it library, museum, and edu- cation center in Minneapolis. The museum is devoted to the history of electricity and magnetism and their uses in science and med- icine. Bakken's passion for philanthropy did not wane in his later years. In 2013, he launched The Bakken Invitation, which honors patients whose lives have been extended thanks to medical technology and who have used this gift of extra life to make an impact through ser- vice and volunteerism. Bakken Invitation hon- orees receive a donation to their cause along with a trip to Hawaii to take part in a special ceremony. Bakken also was involved in several oth- er philanthropic ventures, including Na Kalai Waa Moku O Hawaii, Friends of the Future, and the Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii. In December 2007, at age 83, Bakken be- came the first recipient of an honorary medical degree from the University of Minnesota, rec- ognizing his contributions in the medical field. During his life, he also received honorary doc- torates from the Universities of Hawaii, Tulane, and the Albany College of Pharmacy. In 1981, Bakken received an Outstanding Achievement Award from the University of Minnesota, and his cardiac pacemaker was named one of the 10 most outstanding engi- neering achievements of the last half century by the National Society of Professional Engi- neers in 1984. Further, he was named to the Minnesota Inventors Hall of Fame in 1995. In 2014, Bakken received the Lifetime Achieve- ment Award from the Advanced Medical Tech- nology Association. PCB007 Earl Bakken, Medtronic co-founder