Earl Bakken
Co-founder (deceased 2018)
Electrical engineer who co-founded Medtronic in 1949 in a Minneapolis garage with his brother-in-law Palmer Hermundslie. Trained in electrical engineering at the University of Minnesota, he invented the first wearable, battery-powered cardiac pacemaker in 1957 — a transistorised device the size of a small transistor radio — revolutionising the treatment of heart block. His pacemaker model became the template for the implantable pacemakers that followed. He led Medtronic through its early decades and the mission statement he authored — restoring full life and health — remains the company's guiding document. He passed away in 2018.