Gibbon believed that a machine that would have taken her venous blood, oxygenated it and returned it to her arterial system would have saved her.

He began work on this machine experimenting on cats at Harvard and continued this research at the University of Pennsylvania.

During World War II, Gibbon served as a surgeon in the Burma China India Theater, achieving the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and becoming chief of surgery at Mayo General Hospital.

Gibbon continued his research upon his return and on May 6, 1953, he was able to perform the first successful open heart procedure, an ASD closure, on an 18-year-old patient using total cardiopulmonary bypass.

After his surgical career he retired in Lynnfield Farm in Media, PA, where he devoted himself to his hobbies - painting and poetry.