About eight years ago I happened upon a fascinating historical account of the earliest facial reconstructions resulting from the ghastly new weapons of World War One. It began with an inspiration by an immigrant dentist named Varaztad Kazanjian.
To keep it brief let me say that after reading this I wanted to shake the good doctor's hand and buy him a pint. I even posted on LF to share my admiration of the man.
After a while I would always fail to recall the good doctor's first and middles names, but I never had any trouble pulling up the pages I fondly read again and again, until today.
Now, the keyword searches brought me to the pages of another father of modern plastic surgery, New Zealander Sir Harold Delf Gillies. He is credited here as "(the) Father of Twentieth Century Plastic Surgery, while Dr. Kazanjian is credited on two different Wikipedia pages as "the founder of the modern practice of plastic surgery."
And, I can't help but recall the concerted efforts of the secret cabal to minimize the quantum leaps in science and the grasp of the electric universe by immigrant Nikola Tesla, while elevating the accomplishments of "a good American", Thomas Alva Edison. (as opposed to the dirty necked Serb who gave the world the greatest invention to date back then, the poly phase AC electric motor. What task can't these motors do?)
To any who find the subject matter interesting enough to peruse and form opinions about, I'd appreciate your contributions to the thread.
Who was the father/founder of plastic (from the Greek which means "to mold") and reconstructive surgery? And, is there a quiet but desperate struggle to celebrate one and bury the other?
YOU DECIDE.