t was on October 3, 1930; a patient lay dying at assachusetts General Hospital in Boston. She had ndergone cholecystectomy 2 weeks earlier and develped massive pulmonary embolism. The treating sureon, Dr Edward Churchill, moved her to the operatng room, where a pulmonary embolectomy would be erformed as soon as a decision to operate was made. ohn H Gibbon Jr, a surgical resident, was assigned the ask of watching the patient and monitoring her vital igns. Her condition deteriorated during the night, and, inally, at 8 AM the next day, respiration ceased and blood ressure became unrecordable. Within 6 minutes and 30 econds, Dr Edward Churchill opened the chest, incised he pulmonary artery, extracted a large pulmonary emolus, and closed the incised wound in the pulmonary rtery with a lateral clamp. It was to no avail. The paient could not be revived. The events of October 3, 1930, marked a turning oint in the history of surgery, not because of the way in hich the patient was managed—it was standard pracice at that time—and not because of the fatal result of he pulmonary embolism—that was the usual result— ut because it gave birth to an idea that led to developent of the heart-lung machine and made contempoary cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and open heart peration possible.