On the recordJune 7, 2012
There are many heroic people among us who have been involved in making our quality of life in America the best the world has ever seen and, at the same time, uplifting all of humankind. While we oftentimes focus our gratitude and our adoration on politicians and athletes and movie stars, we need to acknowledge the many innovators, inventors, and technology entrepreneurs who have played a significant role in overcoming the many challenges we humans face together, challenges to our health and limitations to our physical well-being. One of the most heroic of these special people is Dr. Al Mann. He flew in B 29s during World War II; and upon his return home, Al decided, instead of pursuing a career in the armaments industry, which could have been very lucrative, he would dedicate his life to building technologies that would improve the human condition. Among his many achievements are the following: a vast improvement over pacemaker technology, which then made that available to so many millions of people whose lives have been changed because of it and extended because of it. He also was involved in inventing, and it was his invention, a diabetic pump, a small mechanism that attaches to the body and allows patients to escape some of the worst ravages of diabetes.…
