Sacha Vega/TED Robert Fischell invented the rechargeable pacemaker and the implantable insulin pump — not to mention helped create the precursor to GPS. The 87-year-old shares a peek into his creative process. Perhaps you have a family member who’s alive because of a flexible coronary stent. Or a friend who manages her diabetes with an implantable insulin pump. Or, even more likely, maybe today you used an app on your smartphone to get directions, plotted with the help of GPS. Related Read: Aligning Ethiopian Energy Markets for Innovation and More Jobs If any of the above is true, you can thank Robert Fischell, intrepid inventor and winner of the 2005 TED Prize . A longtime satellite engineer, Fischell helped create a key antecedent to GPS before turning his attention to medical devices in the 1970s. Today, he holds more than 200 patents in the US, from the implantable cardiac defibrillator to SpringTMS , a device recently approved by the FDA for the treatment of migrai...
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