Details regarding this development and GM's involvement were documented in the Journal of Cardiac Surgery, Vol. 17, No. 3, May/June 2002. Dr. Larry Stephenson, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Wayne State University in Detroit, is an expert on the history of this device.

The Dodrill-GMR Mechanical Heart is a 12-cylinder pump for temporarily replacing the human heart during heart surgery. It was the first mechanical heart in the world used successfully to keep a patient's entire bloodstream circulating. This mechanical heart was designed, built and tested cooperatively by Harper Hospital in Detroit, the Michigan Heart Association, and General Motors Research Laboratories (GMRL) (originally a 6 pump unit) in the early 1950s. It has been referrred to as a landmark in cooperative research between medical men and engineers. Medical Science was a auxiliary exhibit by GM Research in the Applied Research section of the Avenue of Progress-New York World's Fair. SOURCE: GMR Exhibits report [SOURCE: General Motors Text File and 1965 World's Fair Log Book]