The importance of concord between nations for scientific progress in cardiopulmonary resuscitation. A literature review

Conflict between nations harms not only its direct victims, but often the next generations. History teaches us that concord and international cooperation favors the progress of science, especially medicine, while wars and violence provoked by different religious, ideological, political, and sociocultural contexts hinder scientific research to the detriment of humanity. The objective of this article is to recall some notable figures in the history of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), focusing on the negative consequences of ide-ological persecution for the science of CPR.(CPR) is rooted in fundamental concepts of human anatomy and physiology that, while first described more than 500 years ago, only came to light centuries later due to the complex ideological situation of the epoch. While CPR in its current form is a relatively modern discipline, dating from the 1950s, we can postulate that the lack of international cooperation and the prevalence of totalitarian ideologies which characterized the 20th century constituted an obstacle for the free development and divulgation of this life-sav-ing technique.This paper aims to describe and analyze some of the most rep-resentative figures from the history of CPR whose contributions to science had to overcome different political, ideological, and socio-cultural barriers, standing today as a monument to mankind's tenacity in the search for knowledge.