Description:
When Earl Bakken was eight years old he went to see the film Frankenstein at a Minneapolis theater. He was amazed as he watched Dr. Frankenstein use science and electricity to bring a monster to life, and it changed his life. Bakken left the theater inspired and developed a passion for science that stayed with him. He grew up to study electrical engineering at the University of Minnesota and in 1949 became the co-founder of Medtronic. In 1957 Bakken developed the first wearable, external, battery-powered pacemaker, predecessor to Medtronic’s internal pacemaker.
Soon after developing a successful business, Bakken began collecting old medical and electrical devices and early books on therapeutic uses of electricity. Originally housed at Medtronic, the collections grew to become the world’s only library and museum devoted primarily to medical electricity—The Bakken Museum.
The Bakken Museum was moved to its current location at West Winds, a 15-room Tudor-style mansion (with a 12,000 square-foot addition) on the west shore of Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis. It is comprised of more than 11,000 books, journals and manuscripts and 2,500 objects and lab instruments from categories such as electrodynamics, radiation and endoscopy. With a historical emphasis on 18th to 20th century science, the library and museum demonstrate the history of electricity and magnetism with a focus on their roles in the life sciences and medicine.