Sergei S. Bryukhonenko

Sergei S. Bryukhonenko Physiologist 1890—1960

Bryukhonenko is the author of the famous autojector, the first artificial heart-lung (artificial circulation) apparatus without which no serious operation is possible today. He got down to the work of developing the apparatus in 1920, and the first public demonstration of the apparatus was staged already in 1925. All contemporary artificial circulation apparatuses are, effectively, updated autojectors.

Interestingly, S.S. Bryukhonenko is the prototype of Professor Douyel from A. Belyayev's science-fiction novel, "The Head of Professor Douyel", who pioneered in implanting an autojector into the head of a dog, and the head lived for three hours thereafter, isolated from the body.

Bryukhonenko stood at the sources of cardiac surgery in Russia. He was destined to witness the results of his labours in his life time, and by no means every scientist is so fortunate. He was one of the leaders of the Research Institute of Experimental Surgery in which Professor A.A. Vishnevsky successfully performed the first open-heart operation in 1957.

A noted physiologist, Doctor of Medical Sciences, a Lenin Prize winner, Bryukhonenko also had a natural talent for music-making. They say that once he bested G.G. Neigauss himself, the virtuoso pianist, in a musical contest.

Bryukhonenko's scientific career was by no means smooth sailing. He would meet with misunderstanding and with unsubstantiated accusations. But time put things in their proper places, and today the scientist's discoveries rank among the foremost achievements of biology and medicine in the 20th century.