Raymond Lightwood (1922–2001) was a British medical engineer who developed the first variable rate heart pacemaker, together with Leon Abrams at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

. Ray Lightwood was born in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed ...

. He was educated at Birchfield Road School in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

. During World War Two Lightwood received training at the Radar and Wireless training school at

RAF Yatesbury RAF Yatesbury is a former Royal Air Force airfield near the village of Yatesbury, Wiltshire, England, about east of the town of Calne. It was an important training establishment in the First and Second World Wars, and until its closure in 1965. ...

and after initially serving in India as a ground and service engineer, he became a travelling engineer with South East Asia Command. He was also seconded to

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), before finally losing its identity in me ...

at Farnborough to study captured radar equipment. After the war Lightwood worked as an industrial electronics applications engineer and representative. Lightwood was a medical engineer, researcher and technician in the Department of Surgery at

Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham is a major, 1,215 bed, tertiary NHS and military hospital in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham, situated very close to the University of Birmingham. The hospital, which cost £545 million to constr ...

from 1958 to 1987. In consultation with

cardiothoracic surgeon Cardiothoracic surgery is the field of medicine involved in surgical treatment of organs inside the thoracic cavity — generally treatment of conditions of the heart (heart disease), lungs (lung disease), and other pleural or mediastinal struc ...

Leon Abrams he researched, designed and developed the first variable rate heart pacemaker in 1960. Lightwood used electrodes attached to the heart coupled to an external pacemaker, so all the electronic components were kept outside the body, and could be replaced in the event of failure. This was the first patient controlled permanent pacemaker as the primary circuit consisted of an inducing coil supplied by a portable transistor which produced short pulses at adjustable intervals and intensity. Ray Lightwood gave lectures about his research to conferences and societies. Lightwood also delivered lectures at

Birmingham University The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

Keele University Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, Kee ...

and the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

, as well as at

Matthew Boulton College Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the C ...

in Birmingham and at

Coventry Technical College City College Coventry was a further education college based in the city of Coventry, England. It was formed in 2002 through the merger of two previous colleges in the city, although through them it has roots going back to the 19th century. ...

. Lightwood was awarded the Official Degree of BSc (Pure Science) in 1974 by

for which he submitted a thesis entitled 'An inductively coupled system for electrical pacemaking of the heart'. He retired from the Department of Surgery at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham in 1987. He was a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

Lay Preacher. Lightwood died in 2001.

References

1922 births 2001 deaths Academics of the University of Birmingham Alumni of the University of Birmingham British bioengineers Engineers from the West Midlands (county) {{UK-engineer-stub