'Greatest Ulster person' dies aged 88

The man who invented a machine which has helped thousands across the world to survive a heart attack has died.

Professor Frank Pantridge, who has been labelled “The father of emergency medicine”, developed the portable defibrillator in 1965 while he was based at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.

The instrument works by supplying an electric shock to the heart in order to restore its rhythm after cardiac arrest or other interruptions to the regular heartbeat.

Professor Pantridge, who was born near the village of Hillsborough in Co Down, was recently voted the greatest Ulster person of the last century.

He passed away on Saint Stephen's Day aged 88.