Millions have kissed this face

Our story begins in Paris, France in the late 1800s.  A young woman is found floating dead in the Seine river.  As is the custom at the time, her body is displayed to the public, in hopes that family or friends will claim her.  But no one does: she is never identified, and the manner of her death - murder, suicide, accident - is never known.

But somehow, the young woman who no one can identify, becomes a sort of celebrity.  The Parisian public becomes captivated by the story of the mysterious young woman and her untimely demise.  Her face in death is seen as both innocent and knowing, and strangely peaceful and serene.  She is given a new identity: "L'inconnue de la Seine" - the Unknown Woman of the Seine.  It is said the director of the morgue is so taken by the visage of the young woman, he makes a plaster cast of her face.  Copies of this mask become popular, and are eventually sold all over Europe.   Her face is said to have inspired poets and novelists.

In the 1960's Peter Safer of the Univ. of Pittsburgh and his colleagues develop cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).  Dr. Safer contacts Norwegian doll maker Asmund Laerdal with the idea of creating a mannequin on which trainees could practice CPR.  Laerdal agrees, and sets to work.  As it happens, Laerdal's family is in possession of one of the antique masks of L'inconnue de la Seine.  Realizing that men may be reluctant to practice CPR on a male dummy, Laerdal models his mannequin with the face of the mysterious girl.

Today, the unknown young woman has a new name: Resusci-Anne.  And every year, over 12 million people attend a CPR training course, and and learn to breath life into her.  It is fair to say her mysterious death a century and a half ago has save countless modern lives.

(via)