Gavriel Iddan is an Israeli electro-optical

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

and the inventor of wireless capsule endoscopy. Initially at RAFAEL Armament Development Authority working on

guided missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket ...

technology, Iddan got the idea for an endoscopic capsule while on

sabbatical A sabbatical (from the Hebrew: (i.e., Sabbath); in Latin ; Greek: ) is a rest or break from work. The concept of the sabbatical is based on the Biblical practice of ''shmita'' (sabbatical year), which is related to agriculture. According to ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

from a neighbour of his, an Israeli

gastroenterologist Gastroenterology (from the Greek gastḗr- “belly”, -énteron “intestine”, and -logía "study of") is the branch of medicine focused on the digestive system and its disorders. The digestive system consists of the gastrointestinal tract, ...

suffering from undiagnosed stomach pain. After working on the idea for almost twenty years, he successfully created a prototype in 1998 – a disposable pill-sized camera that passes straight through the

digestive tract The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The GI tract contains all the major organs of the digestive system, in humans an ...

, continuously broadcasting to an external receiver. Iddan's invention was approved by the

FDA The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food s ...

in 2001. In 2011 he became a

European Inventor Award The European Inventor Award(formerly European Inventor of the Year Award, renamed in 2010), are presented annually by the European Patent Office, sometimes supported by the respective Presidency of the Council of the European Union and by the Eu ...

nominee. Dr. Iddan was born in October 1941 in Haifa Israel. he is married (second time) and has 3 sons and 7 grand sons. One of his sons is Roy Iddan, an Israeli writer and media personality.

References

Israeli engineers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Optical engineers Rafael Advanced Defense Systems {{Israel-engineer-stub