Teddy Sarkin's MD thesis was for work on the use of synthetic materials in finger injuries, and won him an Adams and Nuffield scholarship to continue these studies in the UK and USA, where he passed the FRCS of the Edinburgh and English colleges. He went on to be senior lecturer and director of the accident unit at Groot Schuur Hospital, Cape Town where he wrote two textbooks and many papers, and went on to be the first Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery in Durban. By now he had an established reputation as a first-rate teacher of undergraduates and post-graduates. In addition he won an international reputation as a scientific thinker, which culminated in his book *The shape of the secret of life* (Luthuli Publishing, 1999) in which he discussed the central importance of the helix as the template for all vertebrate anatomy. This was published after his death which occurred on 19 January 1998.