Kouwenhoven, W. B. (William Bennett), 1886-1975

Biographical Note: William Bennett Kouwenhoven (1886-1975) was an electrical engineer who studied the effects of electrical shock on humans and developed the closed chest electrical defibrillator.

He received his E.E. and M.E. degrees from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, N.Y. (1906-7) and a Dr. Ing. from the Technischule, Karlsruhe in Baden, Germany (1913). He spent his entire career at the Johns Hopkins University. He was a professor of electrical engineering from 1914-54 and served as Dean of the School of Engineering 1938-53. Because of his work with electrical ventricular defibrillation, Kouwenhoven was appointed lecturer in Surgery at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine from 1956 until 1975.

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