The Man Who Touched His Own Heart: True Tales of Science, Surgery, and Mystery

Violating every reasonable rule of research, in 1929 Werner Forssmann inserted a urethral catheter into his arm and guided it to the right atrium of his heart, injecting dye for an X-ray. In the process, he stunted his career but also ultimately won a Nobel Prize. Dunn (ecology and evolution, North Carolina State Univ.; The Wild Life of Our Bodies) relates Forssmann's story along with many others often as unusual as he looks at the history of science's relationship with the human heart. Covering from Greek physician Galen in the second century CE to the leading edge of research today, the author focuses on individuals who built upon one another's work to expand our knowledge of anatomy, physiology, disease, diagnosis, and the many forms of treatment and prevention now in place. He also describes how the human heart and its maladies fit in the evolutionary tree, and the importance of interactions with the environment.