In 2017, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first human heart transplant 
that had been carried out by the South African surgeon, Christiaan ('Chris') 
Barnard at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town on December 3rd, 1967. The daring 
operation and the charismatic surgeon received immense public attention around 
the world. The patient's progress was covered by the world's media on an almost 
hourly basis. Although the patient, Mr. Louis Washansky, died after only 18 
days, Barnard soon carried out a second transplant, and this patient led an 
active life for almost 19 months. Remarkably, Barnard's fifth and sixth patients 
lived for almost 13 and 24 years, respectively. Barnard subsequently introduced 
the operation of heterotopic heart transplantation in which the donor heart 
acted as an auxiliary pump, with some advantages in that early era. It took 
great courage to carry out the first heart transplant, and this is why Barnard 
is remembered as a pioneer in cardiac surgery.