Alfred-Armand-Louis-Marie Velpeau

Alfred-Armand-Louis-Marie Velpeau (18 May 1795 – 24 August 1867) was a French anatomist and surgeon.

A native of Brèches, Indre-et-Loire, he served as a student and assistant to Pierre Bretonneau (1778-1862) in Tours. In 1823 he obtained his doctorate in Paris, where he subsequently worked as a hospital surgeon. Following the death of Alexis de Boyer (1757-1833), he was appointed chair of clinical surgery, a position he maintained until his death in 1867.

In 1843 he succeeded Dominique Jean Larrey (1766-1842) at the Académie des sciences (section of medicine and surgery).Ramón Emeterio Betances, Puerto Rican pro-independence leader, surgeon and Légion d'honneur laureate, was one of Velpeau's prominent students.

Velpeau was a skilled surgeon and renowned for his knowledge of surgical anatomy. He was the author of over 340 titles on surgery, embryology, anatomy, obstetrics, et al. Among his better known written efforts was a work on obstetrics, titled Traité elementaire de l’art des accouchements: ou, Principes de tokologie et d'embryologie (1829). Shortly afterwards, it was translated into English and issued as "An elementary treatise on midwifery: or Principles of and embryology" (1831). A second French edition was published in 1835 with the title Traité complet de l'art des accouchements, etc. Other works by Velpeau that have been translated into English are: Nouveaux éléments de médecine opératoire (1832) as "New elements of operative surgery" (1856) and Traité des maladies du sein et de la région mammaire as "A treatise on the diseases of the breast and mammary region" (1856).

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