Scientists and doctors
Mykola Amosov
1913–2002
- Heart surgeon
- writer
Surgeon who worked in Kyiv for 50 years: Ukraine’s first heart operations, heart-lung bypass and valves of his own design. Founder of the cardiac surgery institute that bears his name.
Biography
Mykola (Nikolai) Amosov was born in December 1913 in the village of Olkhovo near Cherepovets in northern Russia (now flooded by the Rybinsk Reservoir). In the Second World War he was the lead surgeon of a mobile field hospital, an experience he described in his book “PPG-2266”. After the war he was chief surgeon of the Bryansk region.
In autumn 1952 Amosov was invited to Kyiv to head the chest surgery clinic at the Kyiv Tuberculosis Institute — the institute named after Feofil Yanovsky. He lived and worked in Kyiv for the rest of his life, almost fifty years.
Heart surgery in Ukraine
In 1955 Amosov became the first surgeon in Ukraine to operate on heart defects; in 1958 he was among the first in the USSR to use a heart-lung machine; in 1963 he performed the first mitral valve replacement in the Soviet Union, and in 1965 introduced anti-thrombotic valves of his own design. From 1959 to 1990 he also led the biocybernetics department of the Institute of Cybernetics.
In 1983 his clinic became the Kyiv Research Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery, with Amosov as its first director (honorary director from 1988). Since 2003 the institute, at 6 Mykoly Amosova Street, has borne his name.
Writer and health advocate
To the wider public Amosov was known for books such as “Thoughts and Heart”, “Notes from the Future” and “Reflections on Health”, and for his own exercise system. From 1971 to 2002 he lived at 42 Bohdana Khmelnytskoho Street, now marked by a bronze plaque. He died in Kyiv on 12 December 2002 and is buried at Baikove Cemetery. A Hero of Socialist Labour (1973) and Honorary Citizen of Kyiv, he has a Kyiv street named after him.
Life timeline
- 1952 Moves to Kyiv Heads the chest surgery clinic at the TB Institute.
- 1955 First heart operations First in Ukraine to operate on heart defects.
- 1958 Heart-lung machine Among the first in the USSR to operate on bypass.
- 1963 Valve replacement First mitral valve replacement in the USSR.
- 1983 His own institute The clinic becomes the Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery.
- 2002 Death Died in Kyiv on 12 December.
- 2003 Institute named after him The cardiac surgery institute takes his name.
Key achievements
- Heart surgery Ukraine’s first heart operations (1955).
- Amosov valves Anti-thrombotic valve prostheses of his own design (1965).
- The institute Founded Kyiv’s Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery (1983).
- Books “Thoughts and Heart”, “Reflections on Health” and more.
Kyiv in their life
- Amosov National Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery (6 Mykoly Amosova St) — grew out of his clinic in 1983.
- Yanovsky Institute of Phthisiology and Pulmonology — home of Amosov’s chest surgery clinic from 1952.
- 42 Bohdana Khmelnytskoho St — his home in 1971–2002; memorial plaque.
- Baikove Cemetery — his grave, with a monument unveiled in 2003.
Places in our guide
Gallery
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