Pediatric Cardiology: A Journey to the Past

The field of pediatric cardiology is relatively young. Small discoveries, seemingly unrelated, coalesce accidently or through visionaries’ mind-leaps to develop new understanding and concepts which eventually form the foundation of a new field of science. Even though pediatric cardiology is a relatively young scientific discipline, it is still impossible to identify the timing or sequence of events and discoveries which converged to form this medical field. On the other hand, there are some identifiable milestones, mostly in recent history, which clearly had a role in the shaping of this discipline of medicine. In this chapter we review the journey of the field of pediatric cardiology and focus on some milestones which shaped the field as we know today.