LEWISTON (WGME) – A Lewiston man may be featured on a U.S. dollar coin in 2024, according to the Sun Journal.
Dr. Bernard Lown invented the direct-current defibrillator.
The Sun Journal reports the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee endorsed a proposed design for Maine’s contribution to the American Innovations coin program that features Lown’s bust, name, and a defibrillator.
Lown died in 2021 at the age of 99. He shared in a Nobel Prize in 1985 for a group he helped to create called International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, according to the Sun Journal.
According to the Sun Journal, Lown arrived in Lewiston from his native Lithuania at the age of 14 speaking only Yiddish. He graduated from Lewiston High School graduate and attended the University of Maine. He later earned a medical degree from Johns Hopkins Medical School.
The Sun Journal reports Lown became a cardiologist and research scientist. He reportedly introduced the use of the drug lidocaine to control heartbeat fluctuations.
Lown invented the direct-current defibrillator in 1962 to resuscitate a heart suffering arrest.
According to the Sun Journal, the coins in the American Innovations series don’t typically circulate. They are sold through the U.S. Mint in special packaging.
Information for the story was provided via a partnership with the Sun Journal.