Paul Broca - Personal Life

Personal Life

Pierre Paul Broca was born on June 28, 1824, in Sainte-Foy-la-Grande, Bordeaux, France, the son of Benjamin Broca, a medical practitioner and former surgeon in Napoleon’s service. Broca’s mother was the daughter of a Protestant preacher. Broca received basic education in the school in his hometown, earning a bachelor's degree at the age of 16. He entered medical school in Paris when he was 17, and graduated at 20, when most of his contemporaries were just beginning as medical students.

After school, he did extensive internship, first with the urologist and dermatologist Philippe Ricord (1800–1889) at the Hôpital du Midi, then in 1843 with François Leuret (1797–1851) at the Bicêtre. In 1844, he succeeded to become an intern with Pierre Nicolas Gerdy (1797–1856), a great anatomist and surgeon. After two years with Gerdy, Broca became his assistant.

In 1848, Broca founded a society of free-thinkers, sympathetic to Charles Darwin's theories. Broca was rather inspired with the whole idea of evolution. He once proclaimed, “I would rather be a transformed ape than a degenerate son of Adam”.

This brought him in conflict with the church, which described him as a subversive, materialist, and corrupter of the youth. The church’s animosity toward him continued throughout his lifetime, resulting in numerous direct and indirect confrontations between Broca and church authorities.

In 1848, Broca became prosector of anatomy at the University of Paris Medical School, the youngest person ever appointed to the position. He also became secretary of the Société Anatomique. In 1849, he was awarded the degree of doctor of medicine. In 1859, in association with Étienne Eugène Azam, Charles-Pierre Denonvilliers, François Anthime Eugène Follin, and Alfred Armand Louis Marie Velpeau, Broca performed the first experiments in Europe using hypnotism as surgical anesthesia.

In 1853, Broca became professor agrégé, and was appointed surgeon of the hospital. He was elected to the chair of external pathology at the faculty of medicine in 1867, and one year later professor of clinical surgery. In 1868, he became a member of the Académie de medicine, and was appointed the chair of clinical surgery. He served in this capacity until his death. He worked for the Hôpital St. Antoine, the Pitié, the Hôtel des Clinques, and the Hôpital Necker.

In parallel with his medical career, Broca pursued his interest in anthropology. In 1859, he founded the Society of Anthropology of Paris. He served as the secretary of the society from 1862. In 1872, he founded the journal Revue d'anthropologie, and in 1876, the Institute of Anthropology. The church opposed the development of anthropology in France, and in 1876 organized a campaign to stop the teaching of the subject in the Anthropological Institute.

Near the end of his life, Paul Broca was elected a lifetime member of the French Senate. He was also a member of the Académie française and held honorary degrees from many other learned institutions, both in France and abroad.

Broca died on July 9, 1880, at the age of 56 due to a brain hemorrhage. His two sons both became distinguished professors of medical science.