Broca, Pierre Paul (1824-1880)

French neurologist and founder of physical anthropology. In 1853 he was appointed surgeon to the hospital of Paris, France, and in 1868 he became the Paris professor of surgical pathology. He founded the Anthropological Society of Paris in 1859. In 1872 he established the Revue d'Anthropologie/Anthropological Review and in the same year founded the Ecole d'Anthropologie (School of Anthropology). He described the left inferior frontal gyrus of the brain as the seat of speech, now commonly known as the ‘convolution of Broca’.

Broca was born in Sainte-Foy-la-Grande, Gironde, France. He studied medicine in Paris. His publications include Des aneurismes et de leur traitement/Aneurysms and Their Treatment (1856), L'Ethnologie de la France/The Ethnology of France (1859), Instructions generales pour les recherches anthropologiques/General Instructions on Anthropological Research (1865), Instructions craniologiques et craniometriques/Instructions on Craniology and Craniometry (1875), and Memoires d'anthropologie/Anthropological Memoirs (1871-83). He became a member of the Legion of Honour in 1868.