Artificial Kidney
date: label: date made
content: ca 1949
name: label: maker
content: Edward A. Olson Co.
notes: label: Description
content: Willem J. Kolff (1911-2009) was a Dutch physician who in 1943, despite the cloud of Nazi occupation, devised the first workable artificial kidney. In 1947, Dr. Kolff brought two of his machines to America: one was installed in Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, and the other in Montreal. John Merrill and Carl Walters, physicians at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, were inspired by Kolff’s achievement, and developed another machine based on his design. Dr. Merrill donated this example to the Smithsonian in 1970. An inscription reads “MADE BY / EDWARD A. OLSON CO. / ASHLAND, MASS. USA.”
label: Description
content: Ref: Waldemar Kaempffert, “Artificial Kidney for Treatment of Uremic Poisoning Is Now in Use in New York,” New York Times (March 30, 1947), p. E9.
label: Description
content: Francis Burns, “New Artificial Kidney Operated at Brigham,” Boston Globe (May 9, 1948), pp. C1, C22.
label: Description
content: Edward A. Olson Co., The Kolff-Brigham Artificial Kidney (Ashland, Ma., n.d.).
label: Description
content: “Willem Kolff, Doctor Who Invented Kidney and Heart Machines, Dies at 97,” New York Times (Feb. 13, 2009), p. A23.
label: Description
content: “Dr. John Merrill, Transplant Pioneer, Dies in Boating Accident,” New York Times (April 10, 1984), p. B10.
label: Description
content: “Strictly a Lathe and Drill Man, He Made the Artificial Kidney,” Boston Globe (March 9, 1959), p. 22.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Boston
topic: label: Subject
content: Artificial Organs
label: Subject
content: Medicine
label: Subject
content: Kidney dialysis
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Health & Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Artificial Hearts
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Kolff, Willem J.. The Artificial Kidney-Past, Present and Future
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: John P. Merrill, M.D.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.291118
label: catalog number
content: M-13845
label: accession number
content: 291118
objectType: label: Object Name
content: artificial kidney machine
label: Object Name
content: artificial kidney
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: rubber (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 156.5 cm x 75 cm x 114 cm; 61 5/8 in x 29 17/32 in x 44 7/8 in