Vladimir Petrovich Demikhov was a Soviet Russian scientist and organ transplantation pioneer, who performed several transplants in the 1940s and 1950s, including the transplantation of a heart into an animal and a heart–lung replacement in an animal. He is also well known for his dog head transplants, which he conducted during the 1950s, resulting in two-headed dogs. This ultimately led to the head transplants in monkeys by Robert White, who was inspired by Demikhov's work.

Experiments in the Revival of Organisms is a 1940 documentary film directed by David Yashin that purports to document Soviet research into the resuscitation of clinically dead organisms. The English version of the film begins with British scientist J. B. S. Haldane giving an introduction.