Léon Athanese Gosselin

Who was Léon Athanese Gosselin?

Léon Athanase Gosselin was a French surgeon remembered for describing the Gosselin fracture in 1866. He was chief of surgery at l'Hôpital de la Charité in Paris.

He studied medicine in Paris, becoming prosector to the medical faculty in 1842. In 1843 he defended his doctorate with a thesis titled Études sur les fibro-cartilages inter-articulaires. During the following year he attained his aggregation in surgery with the thesis "De l’étranglement dans les hernies. He was appointed professor at the Faculté de Médecine de Paris: the first chair of external pathology, fourth chair of clinical surgery at Pitié Hospital, third chair of clinical surgery at Charité. He was also a professor at the École supérieure de Pharmacie.

During his career, Gosselin excelled in the fields of orthopedics, anatomy, physiology and urology. He is remembered for his research on diseases of the testicles, spermatic cord and scrotum, and their effect on fertility and virility. In this regard he is considered a pioneer of andrology.