Itzhak “Ben” Bentov (1923–79,) also Ben-Tov, was a Czechoslovakia-born Israeli American scientist, inventor, mystic, and author. His many inventions, including the steerable cardiac catheter, helped establish the biomedical engineering industry.
Born in Humenné, Czechoslovakia, Bentov lost his parents in Nazi concentration camps. He closely escaped being sent to the camps and moved to British Palestine. Bentov joined the Israeli Science Corps, where he designed Israel’s first rocket for the War of Independence. Bentov immigrated to the U.S. in 1954.
In 1967, Bentov developed the steerable heart catheter and collaborated with businessman John Abele to found the Medi-Tech Corporation in 1969, a precursor to Boston Scientific, an American medical device manufacturer. Bentov also invented diet spaghetti, automobile brake shoes, Electrocardiogram (EKG) electrodes, and pacemaker leads.
Bentov was an early exponent of consciousness studies and authored several books on the theme, including Stalking the Wild Pendulum: On the Mechanics of Consciousness (1977,) A Cosmic Book on the Mechanics of Creation (1982,) Inner Traditions (1988,) and A Brief Tour of Higher Consciousness (2000.)
Bentov’s daughter, the writer Sharona Ben-Tov Muir, wrote the biography The Book of Telling: Tracing the Secrets of My Father’s Lives (2005.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Itzhak Bentov
If we were to ask the brain how it would like to be treated, whether shaken at a random, irregular rate, or in a rhythmic, harmonious fashion, we can be sure that the brain, or for that matter the whole body, would prefer the latter.
—Itzhak Bentov
Topics: The Mind
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