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Willem Kolff

Generalist and Primary Care Physicians

Willem Kolff was a Dutch-American physician widely regarded as the father of dialysis. In 1943, in Nazi-occupied Netherlands, he built the first working dialysis machine, a rotating-drum device that filtered a patient's blood outside the body to do the work failed kidneys could not. He emigrated to the United States after the war and, at the University of Utah, led early research toward the artificial heart, work that helped earn him the description father of artificial organs. He received the Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research in 2002 for his work on the artificial kidney and dialysis.

Facts
Birth Year
1911 1
Birth Date
1911-02-14 2
Death Year
2009 2
Death Date
2009-02-11 2
Connections

Discoveries

Dialysis, Treatments

Built the first working dialysis machine in 1943.

Source Willem Kolff (Wikipedia)

Specialist In

Internal Medicine, Medical Specialties
Source Willem Kolff (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikidata: Willem Kolff
  • Wikidata Q700136, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)
  • Wikidata P569 (w-bbfill-medicine3-0926)
View the Source
2. Willem Kolff (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia
  • Career; 1943 dialysis machine; University of Utah artificial heart research; 2002 Lasker Award
    father of artificial organs
  • Discoveries: Dialysis
  • Specialist In: Internal Medicine
View the Source
Frequently Asked Questions

What is Willem Kolff known for?

He pioneered hemodialysis, the artificial heart and artificial organs, and built the first working artificial kidney during the Second World War.

Willem Johan Kolff was a Dutch pioneer of hemodialysis, the artificial heart, and the entire field of artificial organs. He made his major discoveries in the field of dialysis for kidney failure during the Second World War. His first prototype dialyzer was developed in 1943, built from orange juice cans, used auto parts, and sausage casings. He is considered to be the Father of Artificial Organs.

How did Willem Kolff spread his artificial kidney after the war?

He donated artificial kidneys to hospitals in Europe and the United States.

When the war ended, Kolff donated his artificial kidneys to other hospitals to spread familiarity with the technology. In Europe, he sent machines to London, Amsterdam, and Poland. Another machine sent to Dr. Isidore Snapper at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City was used to perform the first human dialysis in the United States on January 26, 1948.
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