April 12, 2024 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Peter Josef Safar (1924—2003), an outstanding scientist, innovator, educator and humanist, three-time nominee for the Nobel Prize in Medicine. In the 1950s, Safar convinced everyone of the necessity of tilting the patient's head to eliminate tongue root retraction during mouth-to-mouth ventilations. Another significant but little-studied page of Peter Safire's biography is the development and implementation of the world's first ambulance service with a physician and volunteers trained in CPR. As a sign of respect for the merits of this talented man, the author has systematized analytical material about him and his activities and presented in a concise form, taking into account the assessments of leading domestic and foreign experts in the field of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, anesthesiology, disaster medicine and emergency conditions.

Peter Safar, anesthesiology, artificial respiration, cardiopulmonary and cerebral resuscitation, disaster and emergency medicine, “Resusci Anne” (“Resurrect Anne”), Asmund Laerdahl, Vladimir Negovsky.