A Face That Survived Death: The Story of the "Drowning Woman of the Seine," Who Became a Model for a CPR Mannequin (photo)

In the late 19th century, an unknown woman was found drowned in the Seine in Paris, her body never identified. Her serene expression astonished contemporaries and inspired a death mask that quickly spread across Europe and became known as the "Drowned Woman of the Seine." This image later became a cultural icon known as L'Inconnue de la Seine and even earned the nickname "the drowned Mona Lisa" due to her enigmatic smile. In 1960, Norwegian medical equipment manufacturer Åsmund Lærdal used this face as the basis for a CPR training manikin. This gave birth to the Resusci Anne, a CPR training model that is estimated to have been "resuscitated" by millions of people worldwide during training.