On 3 December 1967, South African doctor, Dr Christiaan (Chris) Barnard, performed the world's first human to human heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town.
Christiaan Neethling Barnard was a South African cardiac surgeon who performed the first highly-publicized heart transplant in the world and the first one in which the patient regained full consciousness.
He transplanted the heart of Denise Darvall who was victim of an accident, into the chest of 54-year-old Louis Washkansky, with the latter regaining consciousness.