[The contribution of Christian Barnard to the history of transplantation medicine].

On December 3 rd, 1967, Christian Barnard conducted the first orthotopic heart transplant at Groote Schuur hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. Barnard competed with the American heart surgeons Norman Shumway, Adam Kantrowitz and Richard Lower, who laid the experimental foundations for the operation in the previous years. The patient, Loius Washkansky, survived 18 days. Today, Barnard is revered as a pioneer in the history of medicine. However, his achievement is discussed controversially due to the unselective choice of patients, the lack of legal provision for the removal of organs in South Africa, and the absence of therapeutic options for prevention of transplant rejection. Barnard's success was supported by a well established interdisciplinary cooperation within different departments at Groote Schuur. The financial stability and the high standard of science in South Africa in the 1960 s contributed to this surgical victory. In 2011, the Department maintains a transplant program and conducts international renowned research in the field of biomechanics and in vivo tissue engineering.