British surgeon John Charnley designed an artificial hip made of plastic and metal with a ball-and-socket joint, and planned and performed the first the low-frictional torque arthroplasty (hip replacement surgery) in 1962. His use of low-friction plastic in the joint overcame the inability to keep an internal area lubricated, which had been the key problem of previous artificial joints. He also made great gains against another recurring problem, infection inside replacement joints, by conducting his surgeries in sterilized and sealed facilities.
[1] 1911, according to some sources.
Father: Arthur Charnley (pharmacist)
Mother: Lily Charnley (nurse)
Sister: Mary Clare Charnley (school administrator)
Wife: Jill Heaver Charnley (b. circa 1932, m. 1957, two children)
Son: Tristram Charnley (physician, b. 1959)
Daughter: Henrietta Charnley (b. 1960)
High School: Bury Grammar School, Bury, Lancashire, England
University: BS Anatomy and Physiology, Victoria University of Manchester
Medical School: MD, Victoria University of Manchester (1935)
Knight of the British Empire 1977
British Medical Association
Royal Society 1975
Royal College of Surgeons
English Ancestry
Author of books:
An Outline of Neuropsychiatry (1944, with A. B. Baker)
The Closed Treatment of Common Fractures (1950)
Compression Arthrodesis (1953)
Acrylic Cement in Orthopaedic Surgery (1970)
Low Friction Arthroplasty of the Hip: Theory and Practice (1979)
