1968 Photo Contest, Photo Stories, 3rd prize
Photographer

Max Scheler

Stern

01 February, 1968

Portrait of the South African cardiac surgeon Dr. Christiaan Barnard in the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town.

Barnard performed the world's first successful human heart transplant. On 2 January 1968, the 58-year-old dentist Philip Blaiberg, was the second person to receive a new heart by Barnard. Donor was Clive Haupt, a 24-year-old textile worker who had died from a stroke on a Cape Town beach the day before. Blaiberg's transplant gained additional media attention because the donor was a black South African. Blaiberg returned home after two months in hospital. He died on 17 August 1969 from heart complications.

About the photographer

Max Scheler

Technical information

Focal length
35 mm

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