What was the first successful human organ transplant of any kind?

The first successful human organ transplant of any kind was a corneal transplant. Eduard Zirm performed the operation in 1905 in Olomouc, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Zirm transplanted corneal tissue from a deceased donor into a man whose eyes had been severely damaged by lime. One eye recovered useful vision, demonstrating that transplanted tissue could restore sight when the operation and donor matching were suitable.

The cornea is especially suitable for transplantation because it has no blood vessels. This reduces the immune system’s access to the transplanted tissue and means corneal grafts usually do not require the same lifelong immunosuppression used for many solid-organ transplants.

The milestone is often confused with later kidney, liver, or heart transplants. Those operations were major advances, but corneal transplantation came first and is generally regarded as the earliest successful human tissue or organ transplant.