Milestone · 5 November 1929

Werner Forssmann publishes his report on right heart catheterisation

The date of 5 November marks the publication of Forssmann’s report. At Eberswalde the young surgeon had inserted a catheter through a vein in his own arm. An X-ray allowed readers to compare the route he described with the position documented on film. The publication thus brought together two forms of evidence, the account and the image.^[1][2]

Historical X-ray of Forssmann showing the catheter, published in 1929.
Credit and rights
Radiographie du travail de Werner Forssmann (1929) · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Original source · Licence

Key dates and milestones

1904
Forssmann is born in Berlin.^[2]
1929
At Eberswalde he documents his experiment with an X-ray.^[2]
5 November 1929
His report appears under the title Die Sondierung des rechten Herzens.^[3]
1956
He shares the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with André Cournand and Dickinson Richards.^[2]
1931–1933
After the reaction to his experiment, Forssmann briefly returned to the Charité before directing his career toward surgery and urology.^[1][2]
1970
Development of the pulmonary artery catheter by Swan and Ganz illustrates the later expansion of haemodynamic investigation.^[1]

Contributions to medicine

The observation acquired new significance as later investigators developed ways of studying the circulation. The shared Nobel Prize reflects contributions from different teams across several decades.^[1][2]
The 1929 publication combined a procedural account with an X-ray. That pairing made the course of the catheter visible and turned a controversial self-experiment into an observation that other readers could examine, debate and place within their own research.^[1][3]
Forssmann’s historical importance cannot be understood in isolation. The 1956 Nobel Prize, shared with André Cournand and Dickinson Richards, recognised a chain of work on cardiac catheterisation and pathological changes in the circulation extending over several decades.^[1][2]
The 5 November anniversary used here is the date of the Klinische Wochenschrift issue. It should not be confused with the exact day of catheter insertion or with the later Nobel recognition.^[3]

Documented anecdotes

Radiographic evidence

Forssmann went to the radiology department with the catheter in place. The image preserved and reproduced with the report is a document of the experiment, not a later reconstruction.^[1][2]

Documentary sources

Werner Forssmann · biographie et publications
Life in the Fast Lane
Werner Forssmann · biographie du prix 1956
Fondation Nobel
5 novembre · Calendrier historique de médecine
Life in the Fast Lane

Documented history and heritage. Clinical recommendations follow MICA’s scientific review workflow. Reading these pages earns no Grade points.

Key dates and milestones

1904

Forssmann is born in Berlin.^[2]

1929

At Eberswalde he documents his experiment with an X-ray.^[2]

5 November 1929

His report appears under the title Die Sondierung des rechten Herzens.^[3]

1956

He shares the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with André Cournand and Dickinson Richards.^[2]

1931–1933

After the reaction to his experiment, Forssmann briefly returned to the Charité before directing his career toward surgery and urology.^[1][2]

1970

Development of the pulmonary artery catheter by Swan and Ganz illustrates the later expansion of haemodynamic investigation.^[1]

Contributions to medicine

The observation acquired new significance as later investigators developed ways of studying the circulation. The shared Nobel Prize reflects contributions from different teams across several decades.^[1][2]

The 1929 publication combined a procedural account with an X-ray. That pairing made the course of the catheter visible and turned a controversial self-experiment into an observation that other readers could examine, debate and place within their own research.^[1][3]

Forssmann’s historical importance cannot be understood in isolation. The 1956 Nobel Prize, shared with André Cournand and Dickinson Richards, recognised a chain of work on cardiac catheterisation and pathological changes in the circulation extending over several decades.^[1][2]

The 5 November anniversary used here is the date of the Klinische Wochenschrift issue. It should not be confused with the exact day of catheter insertion or with the later Nobel recognition.^[3]