Pierre Nicolas Gerdy (1 May 1797 – 18 March 1856) was a French physician who was a native of Loches-sur-Ource. He was a professor with the Faculty of Medicine in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, and worked with renowned

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

s such as Jacques Lisfranc de St. Martin (1790–1847), Armand Velpeau (1795–1867) and Guillaume Dupuytren (1777–1835). The famed

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having it ...

Paul Broca Pierre Paul Broca (, also , , ; 28 June 1824 – 9 July 1880) was a French physician, anatomist and anthropologist. He is best known for his research on Broca's area, a region of the frontal lobe that is named after him. Broca's area is involve ...

(1824–1880) was an assistant to Gerdy for a few years during the 1840s. Gerdy was known for contributions as a

pathologist Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in th ...

and

physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemica ...

. He also worked with artists and sculptors, and in 1829 published ''Anatomie des formes extérieures du corps humain, appliqué à la peinture, à la sculpture et à la chirurgie'', a book of

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having i ...

as it applied to

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and a ...

and

surgery Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pa ...

. His name is associated with a number of anatomical eponyms, however most of these terms have since been replaced by clinical nomenclature: * " Gerdy's fibers":

Superficial transverse metacarpal ligament The Transverse Ligament of the Palmar Aponeurosis (TLPA) is a thin band of transverse fibers of the distal portion of the palmar aponeurosis The palmar aponeurosis (palmar fascia) invests the muscles of the palm, and consists of central, lateral, ...

* "Gerdy's fontanelle": sagittal

fontanelle A fontanelle (or fontanel) (colloquially, soft spot) is an anatomical feature of the infant human skull comprising soft membranous gaps ( sutures) between the cranial bones that make up the calvaria of a fetus or an infant. Fontanelles allow ...

* "Gerdy's hyoid fossa": Trigonum caroticum * "Gerdy's interatrial loop": A muscular

fasciculus ''Fasciculus vesanus'' is an extinct species of stem-group ctenophores known from the Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada. It is dated to and belongs to middle Cambrian strata. The species is remarkable for its two sets of long and shor ...

in the interatrial septum of the heart, passing backward from the

atrioventricular groove The coronary sulcus (also called coronary groove, auriculoventricular groove, atrioventricular groove, AV groove) is a groove on the surface of the heart at the base of right auricle that separates the atria from the ventricles. The structure c ...

. * "Gerdy's ligament": Suspensory ligament of axilla * " Gerdy's tubercle": lateral

tubercle In anatomy, a tubercle (literally 'small tuber', Latin for 'lump') is any round nodule, small eminence, or warty outgrowth found on external or internal organs of a plant or an animal. In plants A tubercle is generally a wart-like projection ...

of the

tibia The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it conn ...

(Eponym actively used in medicine today).

References

MedicineWord, Definition of Eponyms

Am J Orthop (Belle Mead NJ). 1996 Nov;25(11):750-2
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerdy, Pierre Nicolas French surgeons French anatomists 1797 births 1856 deaths People from Aube