SYMPOSIUM: REVERSE TOTAL SHOULDER ARTHROPLASTY Biographical Sketch Paul M. Grammont, MD (1940) Pascal Boileau MD Published online: 20 July 2011 Ó The Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons1 2011 Abstract This biographical sketch on Paul M. Grammont corresponds to the historic text, The Classic: Delta Shoulder Prosthesis for Rotator Cuff Rupture (1993), available at DOI 10.1007/s11999-011-1960-5. Paul Grammont was born on April 1940 in Salins-les- Bains, in the northeastern part of France. His father was a teacher and his mother, who chose to raise the children, was trained as a physicist. During his primary and sec- ondary school years, he lived in various cities as his father taught in different schools. After graduation from second- ary school, he began medical studies in Lyon. Very quickly he became interested in surgery, and more specifically in orthopaedic surgery. He first became the fellow and then assistant of Professor Albert Trillat, head of the orthopae- dic department in Lyon that was particularly well-known for knee and shoulder surgery. He did his military service overseas, in French Guiana where he had the opportunity to operate on many difficult cases. Encouraged by Albert Trillat, he became a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology in 1974 at the age of 34. He then moved to Dijon in eastern France, where he became the Chairman of the Orthopaedic Department of the University Hospital. While he had few laboratory resources, he was a skilled handyman and began many of his biomechanical experi- ments on the knee and the shoulder in his own garage before having the opportunity to work in the anatomical and biomechanical labs in the Medical University of Dijon. Grammont was creative: besides developing the reverse shoulder prosthesis [2, 3], he also developed an early patellofemoral prosthesis [6] and one of the first nails with a self-advancing mechanism designed to lengthen P. Boileau (&) Department of Orthopaedic Surgery & Sports Traumatology, Ho ˆpital de L’Archet-University of Nice-Sophia-Antipolis, 151, Route de St Antoine de Ginestie `re, 06202 Nice, France e-mail: boileau.p@chu-nice.fr Fig. 1 Dr. Paul Grammont is shown in 2011 (Photographs courtesy of Dr. Grammont). Fig. 2 Dr. Paul Grammont is shown circa 1970 (Photographs courtesy of Dr. Grammont). 123 Clin Orthop Relat Res (2011) 469:2422–2423 DOI 10.1007/s11999-011-1959-y