ORTHOPAEDIC HERITAGE Sir Robert Jones: orthopaedic surgeon and war hero Berardo Di Matteo & Vittorio Tarabella & Giuseppe Filardo & Patrizia Tomba & Anna Viganò & Elizaveta Kon & Maurilio Marcacci Received: 4 November 2014 /Accepted: 9 November 2014 # SICOT aisbl 2014 Abstract The First World War was a very harsh conflict and statistics recorded a great number of victims, both soldiers and civilians. One hundred years later, the whole world is com- memorating the Great War by celebrating people and events that contributed to shaping the XX century. Beyond remem- bering political figures, war heroes or even famous battles, it is also important to underline the contribution of those who devoted their efforts to improve the living conditions during war campaigns. This is the case of Sir Robert Jones, one of the fathers of XX century orthopaedics, who contributed to re- organize the military medical assistance during war times and whose teachings, coming directly from his “on the field” experience, inspired an entire generation of European surgeons. Keywords History of orthopaedics . World War I . Military medicine . Robert Jones Introduction: The tragedy of war The XX century was defined as an “age of extremes” by the brilliant English historian E. Hobsbawn [1], who stated that the real beginning of this century could be seen in 1914, the year when the First World War started and changed the history and the course of several nations in such a profound way that going back to old traditions would not be possible. The First World War was a very harsh conflict, characterized by trench warfare which was the main reason for the great number of victims on the battle field, whereby during the four years and three months of military operations it has been calculated that almost ten million soldiers died and 21 million were injured. Furthermore, almost one million civilians were killed and six million perished due to “collateral causes” such as starvation, prolonged imprisonment, war crimes, and diseases such as the pandemic flu which spread in 1918 [2]. The tough living conditions experienced both by the army and civilians during the war years have been described by historians and have also been the subject of memorable works by writers and artists such as Ernest Hemingway, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Otto Dix and many others. One hundred years later, the whole world has been com- memorating the Great War by celebrating people and events that contributed to shaping the XX century by setting new political and economic scenarios. However, beyond remem- bering political figures, war heroes or even famous battles, it is also important to underline the contribution of those who devoted their efforts to improving living conditions during war campaigns, thus giving support and hope to thousands of troops, as well as to civilians, who were involved in the many military operations of the first World War. The purpose of this paper is therefore to celebrate the work of a man who dedicated his life to saving and healing the victims of that time of despair: Sir Robert Jones (1857–1933) (Fig. 1), one of the noblest fathers of modern orthopaedic practice [3]. Before the war: early orthopaedics Robert Jones was somewhat destined to become a surgeon, a mixture of fateful incidents and fortuity brought him to study B. Di Matteo (*) : V. Tarabella : G. Filardo : P. Tomba : A. Viganò : E. Kon : M. Marcacci II Orthopaedic and Traumatologic Clinic – Biomechanics and Technology Innovation Laboratory, Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute, Via Di Barbiano, 1/10, 40136 Bologna, Italy e-mail: berardo.dimatteo@gmail.com V. Tarabella : P. Tomba : A. Viganò Biblioteche Scientifiche IOR, Donazione Putti, Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute, Bologna, Italy International Orthopaedics (SICOT) DOI 10.1007/s00264-014-2603-8