Erich LEXER1867–1937

of the femoral head into the depths of the socket.

Once this anomaly had been demonstrated it was, in Leveuf’s view, a waste of time attempting to treat a congenital dislocation by manipulation.

Leveuf attended the annual meeting of the British Orthopedic Association in Manchester in October 1947, and appeared to be full of vigor. In the early part of 1948 he attended the meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons in Chicago. After his return from the United States it became evident that he was a tired man, and very soon there were unmistakable signs of the grave malady that brought his life to an end.

By the death of Professor Jacques Leveuf at the height of his powers, French orthopedic surgery has been deprived of an outstanding modern leader. Leveuf had many close ties with Great Britain. His dynamic personality had become one of the features of recent meetings of the British Orthopedic Association, of which he was elected an honorary member in 1945. After the liberation of France, he was eager to establish contact with his British colleagues and to expound with char- acteristic vehemence and eloquence his views on congenital dislocation of the hip, on acute osteomyelitis, and on many other subjects in which he appeared always to challenge orthodox beliefs and practice.

Professor Jacques Leveuf has been taken away suddenly at the age of 63 in the midst of a stren- uous surgical and scientific life. Many cultural, literary and artistic interests showed the breadth of his intellect. Above all, his character was notable for a swiftness of comprehension. His passion for surgery, and the flame of his enthusi- asm, led him to express views with an ardor that won furious opposition, or enthusiastic support, but never indifference. With this impetuosity he nevertheless had the rare quality of being able to change his mind and modify his views quickly.

This agility of mind, enthusiasm, and direct approach kept him surprisingly young.

He made of the Clinique des Enfants Malades a complete service, directing a group of distin- guished colleagues, and himself taking a leading part in the orthopedic surgery of children in which he was so interested, in traumatology, neurosurgery, and plastic surgery. A member of the Academie de Chirurgie, the British Orthope- dic Association, and the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, he made his contribution with a fervor that commanded wide attention and

interest not only in France but in the world. A great void is left in the surgery of France.

195

Who’s Who in Orthopedics

Erich LEXER

1867–1937

Erich Lexer

was born in Freiburg, West Germany, and was the son of a professor of German. During his adolescence, the family moved to Würzburg, where Lexer attended the university, graduating from the medical school in 1890. Following a short period of postgraduate study of anatomy in Göttingen, Lexer began his surgical training in 1892 in the famous clinic of Ernst von Bergmann in Berlin. He remained there for 12 years. During this period he established himself as an investigator and a surgeon. Lexer was appointed Professor of Surgery in Königsberg in 1905. He moved to Jena in 1910, Freiburg in 1919, and finally to Munich in 1928, where he was the successor to Sauerbruch.

His reputation as a general and plastic surgeon continued to grow, with the years in Munich marking the zenith of his career. His clinic was crowded with patients, students, and visiting sur- geons from throughout the world. Unfortunately, an acute coronary occlusion brought an abrupt end to his life in 1937, just prior to retirement.

Lexer’s early anatomic studies of the arterial

circulation in the bones, coupled with his clinical

work with patients with acute hematogenous

osteomyelitis, formed the basis of our present

Who’s Who in Orthopedics

understanding of the etiology and pathogenesis of these bony infections. His pioneer work on the transplantation of tissues such as fat, fascia, tendons, nerves, and bone continues to influence orthopedic and plastic surgery procedures today.

His use of whole joints from cadavers as trans- plants into patients was just a small part of this work. We are fortunate that one of his students has compiled a bibliography of these papers.

Lexer’s life, which he lived to the fullest, was characterized by vitality and energy. His ego at times caused him to be abrasive and aggres- sive, but none of his contemporaries doubted his ability. His great artistic talent was sublimated in his surgical technique, which was of such a high level of virtuosity that it lent itself easily to show- manship. Lexer was a surgeon in a very broad sense who made substantial and lasting contribu- tions to the development of the special areas of plastic and orthopedic surgery.

References

1. Killian H, Kramer G (1951) Meister der Chirurgie and die Chirurgenschulen im Deutschen Raum.

Stuttgart, Georg Thieme

2. May H (1962) Erich Lexer, a biographical sketch.

Plast Reconstr Surg 29:141

3. May H (1962) The bibliography of Erich Lexer’s scientific work. Plast Reconstr Surg 30:670

196

Robert Korn LIPPMANN

1898–1969

Dr. Lippmann was born and educated in New York, having been graduated from De Witt Clinton High School in 1915 and Columbia Uni- versity in 1918, where he received a BS degree.

From 1918 to 1922, Dr. Lippmann was a medical student at Johns Hopkins and was one of its several graduates who became internationally prominent in orthopedics. From 1923 to 1925, Dr.

Lippmann was an intern at Mount Sinai Hospital.

His first year in orthopedics was spent studying bone pathology in Vienna in the laboratory of Professor Erdheim, where he was introduced to a basic scientific approach to the specialty that remained the foundation of much of his future work. In 1925, he studied under Professor Putti at the Istituto Rizzoli in Bologna. On his return to Mount Sinai in 1926 as Adjunct Orthopedic Surgeon, Dr. Lippmann joined his Chief of Service, Dr. P. William Nathan, in practice. He began investigating the pathology and etiology of osteochondritis of the hip in children.

While Adjunct, then Associate Orthopedic

Surgeon, and finally Chief of the Orthopedic

Clinic at Mount Sinai Hospital, Dr. Lippmann

also served as Adjunct Orthopedic Surgeon and

Associate Orthopedic Surgeon at Montefiore

Hospital. At Montefiore he became Chief of

Service in 1938, but resigned in 1942, 3 years

after he became Director of the Department of

Orthopedic Surgery and Orthopedic Surgeon-in-

Chief at Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Lippmann

served as Orthopedic Surgeon-in-Chief for almost

30 years at Blythedale, a long-term children’s

care hospital in Valhalla, New York, and at the