Best remembered for the development of a surgical technique to correct a tissue defect later named after him, Dupuytren conquered early poverty to become a royal surgeon and one of his country's most famous and wealthy people.

Dupuytren was born in Pierre-Buffière, a suburb of the city of Limoges, and endured abject conditions during his early years. However, despite his background and a protracted struggle with tuberculosis, his superior intellect earned him a scholarship at the Collège de la Marche. In 1795, when he was just 18 years old, Dupuytren outperformed many others in a competitive examination for the position of anatomy professor at Paris's new School of Medicine. His career received a major boost when he accepted an appointment in 1803 as assistant chief surgeon at the prestigious Hôtel Dieu, where he would remain for three decades, becoming professor of operative surgery there in...