As far back as ancient Greece, physicians already knew that changes in the organs resulted in changes in bodily fluids that indicate the onset of disease – and from there developed the many fanciful stories of organ transplants. Transplants began with skin and eyes, relatively simple procedures when compared to the internal organs. Those were a step up in complexity, and suffered from the body’s own defense mechanism rejection of the organs as foreign. It helped, however, that humans had two kidneys – this was the first internal organ doctors focused on.

On this day, December 23, in 1954, doctors at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston successfully transplanted a kidney to a seriously ill 23-year-old man – the first such successful long-term transplant of an internal organ.

Richard Herrick had just left the coast guard and was suffering from an incurable kidney disease. Doctors still had no good immunosuppersive techniques to wear down the body’s defenses so as it would not reject the new organ – but to Richard’s luck, he had a perfect donor in his twin brother, Ronald. The donated kidney was an almost exact match for his own, and Richard survived with a perfectly functioning kidney.