Astley Cooper

Astley Cooper (1768 to 1841) was a British surgeon and anatomist, born at Brooke in Norfolk and trained in London under Henry Cline at St Thomas' Hospital, where he also attended the lectures of John Hunter. He became demonstrator of anatomy at St Thomas' in 1789 and surgeon to Guy's Hospital in 1800. His work covered the ear, blood vessels, the breast and testicles, and above all hernia, on which he published a major two-part study in 1804 and 1807. He received the Copley Medal in 1801 for papers on destruction of the eardrum, experimentally studied the effect of tying the carotid arteries in dogs, and in 1817 performed the celebrated operation of tying the abdominal aorta for an aneurysm. He later served as sergeant surgeon to George IV, received a baronetcy, and twice presided over the Royal College of Surgeons.