Ambroise Paré

c. 1510 – 20 December 1590

Ambroise Paré (c. 1510-1590) was a French barber-surgeon who served four French kings and is considered one of the fathers of modern surgery. He abandoned the painful cauterization of gunshot wounds with boiling oil in favor of gentler dressings and revived the use of ligatures to control bleeding during amputations. His widely translated writings transformed battlefield and civilian surgery.

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Life events

Born in Bourg-Hersent near Laval, France
c. 1510

Ambroise Paré was born around 1510 into a family of modest means in the province of Maine in northwestern France.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Birth ✓
Trained as a barber-surgeon at the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris
c. 1533 – c. 1536

Paré moved to Paris and gained his practical surgical education as an apprentice at the Hôtel-Dieu, the city's great public hospital.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Served as an army surgeon in the campaign in Piedmont
1536

Paré accompanied the French army to Italy as a military surgeon, gaining extensive experience treating battlefield wounds.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Abandoned boiling-oil cauterization of gunshot wounds at the siege of Turin
1537

When his supply of boiling oil ran out, Paré treated gunshot wounds with a soothing dressing of egg yolk, rose oil, and turpentine, and found the patients recovered better, overturning standard practice.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Published his first treatise on the treatment of gunshot wounds
1545

Paré published La méthode de traicter les playes faictes par hacquebutes, written in French rather than Latin so ordinary surgeons could read it.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Became royal surgeon to King Henry II of France
1552

Paré entered royal service under Henry II, beginning a career in which he served four successive French kings.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Promoted the use of ligatures instead of cauterization in amputations
1552

Paré revived and popularized the tying of blood vessels with ligatures to control hemorrhage during amputation, notably during the siege of Danvilliers.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Published Les Oeuvres, his collected surgical works
1575

Paré's collected works, covering surgery, anatomy, obstetrics, and prosthetics, were published in Paris and widely translated across Europe.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Died in Paris
20 December 1590

Paré died in Paris at about the age of 80 and was buried in the church of Saint-André-des-Arts.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Death ✓