When was the first kidney transplant performed?

The first successful kidney transplant was carried out in 1954 at Brigham Hospital in Boston by surgeon Joseph Murray and his team. The operation was performed between identical twins, Ronald and Richard Herrick, so the transplanted kidney was not rejected by the immune system. The recipient lived for several years after the procedure, proving that organ transplantation could work. Murray later won the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in transplantation.