Who’s Who in Orthopedics
hagen, and he was over 80 when the University in 1957 elected him Honorary Doctor of Medi- cine in recognition of his work. It was touching to witness his happiness on receiving this honor, although it was given him so late.
Scheuermann had a gentle and quiet personal- ity, and his mind was engaged in practical and scientific problems. He was always to be seen at scientific meetings, not only of the Radiological Society but also of the Danish Orthopedic and Surgical Associations. He often traveled in other countries on his scientific bent; he told me once how envious he was when visiting Schmorl because of Schmorl’s immense patho-anatomical material and facilities for investigation.
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Holger Werfel SCHEUERMANN
1877–1960
Holger Werfel Scheuermann died on March 3, 1960, in Copenhagen. Scheuermann’s name is well known to the orthopedic world. He was the first to describe juvenile kyphosis, which in many countries is now known as Scheuermann’s disease.
Scheuermann was the son of a practitioner from Hørsholm, near Copenhagen. He was born on February 12, 1877, and graduated in 1902. He was trained both as an orthopedic surgeon and as a radiologist. From 1916 to 1919, he was assistant surgeon to the Society and Home for Crippled in Denmark. From 1935, he was chief radiologist to the municipal hospital, Sundby, Copenhagen. He retired in 1947.
Scheuermann described juvenile kyphosis in 1920–1921, when radiology was in its youth. His concept of the pathology and disturbances in the ossification of the end plates of the vertebrae is not unanimously accepted, but his description of the disease can be said to be classical and has not been improved upon by later authors.
Internationally, Scheuermann was probably the most well-known Danish radiologist. Apart from his work on juvenile kyphosis, his studies from 1932 on the normal and pathological sella turcica are internationally known. In 1937, he also described a radiographic technique for exposing optic foramen, which also gives him credit.
Although his work on juvenile kyphosis was original, unaccountably it was not accepted for the doctorate degree of the University of Copen-
Robert SCHNEIDER
1912–1990
Robert Schneider was born in Biel in 1912,
studied medicine in Bern and spent one semester
in Paris. In 1937, he began to specialize in general
surgery and in 1947 became a senior resident
under Professor Lenggenhager. Despite academic
leanings, he took the post of surgeon-in-chief in
a community hospital in Grosshöchstetten, a rural
village near Bern. Shortly after arriving there, I
met him and we developed a fraternal relation-
ship, which lasted for 38 years. After meeting four
of his surgical friends, I organized for them a
course on “Stable Internal Fixation,” in October
1956 at the Balgrist Hospital in Zürich. A year
later, we decided to found an “Association for the
Who’s Who in Orthopedics Operative Treatment of Fractures”—subse-
quently AO. The six founders adopted the fol- lowing principles:
1. “Good” is what is good for the patient and satisfies the needs of the surgeon.
2. All procedures to be simple and described in simple terms.
3. Each operatively treated fracture to be docu- mented and evaluated.
4. Documentation to include copies of all x-rays and slides, available to the group.
5. Each failure to be analysed and its cause determined.
6. The results to be statistically analysed.
Robert Schneider adhered to these principles throughout his professional career. In 1959, he became the first chairman of the AO—a post he held for 20 years. His critical self-evaluation, his grasp of complex issues, his ability to unveil links between seemingly unrelated events, and his many discoveries, earned him great respect nationally and internationally.
In 1968, he published The First 10 Years of AO.
A later book, 25 Years AO Switzerland, is a treas- ure house of AO information. Written in German, the book sadly was never translated into English.
Some 22 other publications were but a prelude to his major work, a 300-page treatise The Total Hip Prosthesis, a Biomechanical Concept and Conse- quences. Robert Schneider received numerous honors, but he remained, nonetheless, a modest, friendly man.
In many countries he was “the father of the AO.” He remained in practice until the time of his sudden death, just as he put in the last skin suture after a hip arthroplasty. Robert Schneider will stay alive in the memory of all those who had the privilege to know him.
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