Thanks to the medical revolutions of the past half century, we have attained a remarkable understanding of health and disease, of diagnosis and therapy. Future generations will undoubtedly be intensely interested in the men and women whose work produced these revolutions. The ability to record their thought processes through the techniques of“oral history”can provide invaluable insights. It is in this belief that HOSPITAL PRACTICE is presenting a series of interviews conducted by cardiologist Allen B. Weisse, Professor of Medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School. They were originally published in 1984 asConversations in Medicine: The Story of Twentieth-Century American Medicine in the Words of Those Who Created It(New York University Press, Washington Square, New York). Following is the interview with surgeon Owen H. Wangensteen, conducted in the fall of 1980.