• Question: where (in the body) was the first artificial body part put into use?

    Asked by 565artc49 to Andrew, Lizzie, Sonia on 24 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 24 Jun 2015:

      Volta in thee 1800 stimulated his own ear in the 1800’s and hear a bubbling sound. So its the first attempt to make an artificial ear.

    • Photo: Elizabeth Kapasa

      Elizabeth Kapasa answered on 24 Jun 2015:

      I think the Artificial Body Zone homepage is right in that the Egyptians first started making prostheses and I think they even made gold teeth too!

    • Photo: Andrew Phillips

      Andrew Phillips answered on 24 Jun 2015:

      Wow, that’s a really good question. In terms of hip implants the first metal and plastic implant (similar to what we have now) was introduced in the UK by John Charnley in the 1960s (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Charnley). Prosthetics were made by the Egyptians. There is an earlier example of ivory being used to replace the head of the femur, although I’m not sure how successful that was!

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