The Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons 2008 Abstract This biographical sketch of R. Merle d’Au- bigne ́ corresponds to the historic text, The Classic: Functional Results of Hip Arthroplasty with Acrylic

a Huguenot family [9]. He had a classical education at the Lycée Pasteur [5] and at age 17 wanted to enlist in the tank corps, but with two brothers in the service and his mother objecting, he ‘‘yielded to my mother’s wishes’ ’ [5]. During WWI, his school was, however, turned into a hospital, where he met Dr. Philip D. Wilson, Sr. He finally was called to service in 1918, two months before the Armistice. He had his medical training at the Medical Faculty in Paris, but found it ‘‘disappointing.’ ’ He later commented, ‘‘…Misery, resignation, and death on one side, pretension and highfalutin speech on the other, was the most common spectacle’ ’ [5]. (Merle d’Aubigne ́ was fluent in English.) He then served as an assistant in general surgery for 12 years at the Hôpital de Vaugirard, during which time he developed an interest in orthopaedic surgery. ‘‘The prestige of visceral surgery absorbed the interest of the senior staff. The lesions of the motor system, numerous accidents, tuberculosis, and arthritis were more or less abandoned to the junior staff’ ’ [5]. In the thirties he spent time with Böhler in Vienna and Putti in Bologna. During WWII he initially served as a captain in a mobile unit, but during the occupation balanced his life as a surgeon and serving in the Resistance [9]. When De Gaulle returned to France in 1944, Merle d’Aubigne ́ was appointed at the newly formed health commission to reorganize the health military services. While not entirely happy with his administrative work, in December, 1944 he went to England to visit prominent surgeons. This trip had a major influence on his life: first he met influential people and second he had a better sense of Prof. Robert Merle d’Aubigne ́ is shown. Reprinted with permission and Lippincott Williams and Wilkins from Merle d’Aubigne ́ R