1714-1788

English Physician and Surgeon

Percivall Pott was one of eighteenth-century's preeminent physicians and surgeons. In a time which predated surgical specialization, he made historic contributions to orthopedics, urology, neurosurgery, and oncology. No less than three disorders bear his name as a result of his precise and accurate clinical descriptions: Pott's disease, Pott's fracture, and Pott's puffy tumor.

Born in London in 1714 to a woman who was twice widowed, Pott nonetheless obtained a privileged education, developing a taste for classical knowledge and literature. Apprenticed at 16 to Edward Nourse, surgeon at London's St. Bartholomew's Hospital, he prepared Nourse's dissections, gaining invaluable training in anatomy. In 1736, at age 22, Pott was admitted to the Company of Barber Surgeons and established his own practice. At age 31 he was elected Assistant Surgeon at St. Bartholomew's, and four years later attained full surgeon, a post he held until 1787.

Pott discovered his propensity...