July 27 in Bulgaria’s history pairs a quiet moment in a cardiology lab with a loud one in national politics, thirty-seven years apart.
July 27, 1972 — A Bulgarian Doctor Hears Something New
Dr. Ivan Mitev formally deposited his discovery of an extra heart tone — later named the “Mitev tone” — with Bulgaria’s Institute for Inventions and Rationalizations. He had first noticed the faint, unrecorded sound earlier that year on phonocardiograms of children with aortic valve insufficiency, something no one had picked out despite millions of similar readings taken worldwide each year.
The finding was later celebrated as Bulgaria’s scientific achievement of the 20th century and even honored with its own postage stamp — the first ever issued for a cardiology discovery.
July 27, 2009 — A New Prime Minister
Boyko Borissov was sworn in as prime minister, forming Bulgaria’s first GERB-led government after the party’s landslide win in that month’s parliamentary elections.
It opened a long chapter in Bulgarian politics: Borissov would serve as prime minister across three separate terms over the following decade, becoming modern Bulgaria’s longest-serving head of government.
Step back a day to July 26 or ahead to July 28, and browse more of the country in our guides to Bulgaria.
