Barouh Berkovits

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Barouh Vojtech Berkovits (May 7, 1926 – October 23, 2012) was a Slovak-born American bioengineer who helped shape modern heart care. He pioneered devices such as the demand pacemaker and the DC defibrillator. Born Baruch Berkowitz in Lučenec, Czechoslovakia, his parents and sister were killed in Auschwitz. He moved to the United States in the 1950s, earned his degree from New York University Tandon School of Engineering in 1956, and later taught there. He worked for Medtronic from 1975 until retirement. In 1982 he received the Heart Rhythm Society's Distinguished Scientist Award. Berkovits died in Newton, Massachusetts, at age 86.