Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All the United States New York State New York City Clarence Greatbatch Barn

Greatbatch Barn

This exhibit pays tribute to the “humble tinkerer” who invented the implantable pacemaker.

Clarence, New York

Added By
Edward Denny
Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
CAPTION
Wilson Greatbatch’s tool box.   Edward Denny / Atlas Obscura User
Greatbatch Barn.   Edward Denny / Atlas Obscura User
Greatbatch Barn.   Edward Denny / Atlas Obscura User
Greatbatch Barn.   Edward Denny / Atlas Obscura User
Greatbatch Barn.   Edward Denny / Atlas Obscura User
Greatbatch Barn.   Edward Denny / Atlas Obscura User
Wilson Greatbatch’s doctor’s bag.   Edward Denny / Atlas Obscura User
Greatbatch Barn.   Edward Denny / Atlas Obscura User
Greatbatch Barn.   Edward Denny / Atlas Obscura User
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

Tapping into a deep vein of medical history, the Clarence History Museum has carefully reconstructed the original barn laboratory in which Wilson Greatbatch invented the implantable pacemaker in the 1950s. With only $2,000 in savings and a vegetable garden to support his family, Greatbatch secluded himself in this barn where his ingenuity and pluck led to the development of a life-changing device.

Today, a mannequin recreates the 1956 tableau at Greatbatch’s original workbench, where a happy accident led to his invention of the pacemaker. While building a heart rhythm recording device, he selected the wrong sized resistor and circuitously stumbled upon the process for artificially regulating a heartbeat. 

Although Earl Bakken had previously developed an external pacemaker the size of a television, Greatbatch’s innovations reduced the dimensions for a more practical and less painful implantable device. Greatbatch later leased his invention to Bakken, who founded the Medtronic Company. As Medtronic expanded its medical device business, Greatbatch kept his hand on the pulse of battery technology development, which would enable devices to be made ever smaller.  

By the time he died in 2011, Greatbatch had amassed hundreds of patents personally and through his company. He conducted research in a wide variety of fields including AIDS treatment research, helium-based fusion, and plant-derived alternative energy. He once dabbled in cloning plants and grew a flower he dubbed “Rosemary Cloney.” Ever the tinkerer, he claimed that nine out of 10 ideas came to naught, and friends still delight in telling stories of his quirkier inventions including a cereal that only he would eat.

Also featured in the museum is Voyager, the canoe to which Greatbatch attached an array of solar panels in 1991 for a record-setting solar-powered, 142-mile-trip around New York’s Finger Lakes. Fascinated by research into alternative energy sources, Greatbatch built the craft to celebrate his 72nd birthday and navigated Seneca Lake at the blistering pace of 3.5 miles per hour. During the odyssey, he attracted the attention of a passing police officer who asked to see his motorized boating license. Greatbatch didn’t have one, but captivated the officer with a tour of the canoe’s technology and avoided getting a ticket.   

Greatbatch has been described as one of the greatest inventors of the 2oth century and is an inductee in the National Inventors Hall of Fame, among many other honors. Today, more than half a million pacemakers are implanted each year, and Medtronic is the largest medical device company in the world—all from an idea born in a barn.

Related Tags

Medical Museums Instruments Of Science Medicine Health Science Museums Science Museums Museums And Collections Technology Inventors Inventions

Know Before You Go

The Clarence History Museum is open the second and fourth Sunday of the month from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. and on Wednesday afternoons 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Community Contributors

Added By

Edward Denny

Published

July 25, 2019

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Sources
  • https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/28/business/wilson-greatbatch-pacemaker-inventor-dies-at-92.html
  • https://ethw.org/Oral-History:Wilson_Greatbatch
Greatbatch Barn
10465 Main St
Clarence, New York, 14031
United States
42.979781, -78.597739
Visit Website
Get Directions

Nearby Places

Destroyer Park Golf

Akron, New York

miles away

Town Line, New York

Alden, New York

miles away

The Relic Collection at St. John Gualbert's Church

Buffalo, New York

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of New York State

New York State

United States

Places 807
Stories 45

Nearby Places

Destroyer Park Golf

Akron, New York

miles away

Town Line, New York

Alden, New York

miles away

The Relic Collection at St. John Gualbert's Church

Buffalo, New York

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of New York State

New York State

United States

Places 807
Stories 45

Related Stories and Lists

An Adventure Down Memory Lane With One of Our Top Contributors

List

By Jonathan Carey

Related Places

  • Specimens on display.

    Nagasaki, Japan

    Museum of Tropical Medicine

    A hub of information on tropical diseases and their treatments.

  • Copenhagen, Denmark

    Medical Museion

    A novel collection of medical curiosities housed in an 18th-century surgeon training academy.

  • Kirkaldy Testing Museum

    London, England

    Kirkaldy Testing Museum

    A collection of machines designed to break things for science.

  • Athens, Greece

    Wax Museum of Andreas Syggros

    A grotesque collection of wax limbs depicting the symptoms of venereal disease.

  • The gallery of medical exhibits.

    Venice, Italy

    Scuola Grande di San Marco

    The marble facade hides a little-known medical museum with early surgical instruments and rare copies of canonical texts.

  • Persu, Duesenberg, some tractor-looking thing

    Bucharest, Romania

    Dimitrie Leonida Technical Museum

    Check out engineering marvels of the past at this unintentionally retrofuturist museum.

  • Rothschild Patent Museum

    Wilmington, Delaware

    Rothschild Patent Model Collection

    This collection of odd proofs of concept is like taking a walk through the imagination of a Victorian engineer.

  • Clément Ader’s Avion III

    Paris, France

    Musée des Arts et Métiers

    France's national museum of scientific and industrial instruments.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.