Bishnupada Mukhopadhyaya was a distinguished orthopaedic surgeon. He was born in Patna, Bihar in 1916, the son of Bipin Chandra Mukherjee, a school headmaster, and Shailbala, a housewife. He was educated at the P N Anglo Sanskrit School in Patna and then studied medicine at Patna University. He won prizes, scholarships and distinctions as an undergraduate and passed his MB BS in 1940 in the first division. During his training, he was particularly influenced by Sanatan Pujari in anatomy, A N Bose in pathology, D P Bhargava in surgery and A N Sarkar in gynaecology and obstetrics. From 1943 to 1944 he was a tutor in surgery at the Armed Forces Medical College, Pune. He then spent two years as a graded surgeon in the British Indian Armed Forces. He passed his FRCS in 1947 at the first attempt and went on to gain a masters degree in orthopeadics from Liverpool. He returned to Bihar as the first orthopaedic surgeon in the state. From 1956 to 1972 he was a professor of orthopaedic surgery at Patna Medical College, Patna University. He was then appointed as director of health services to the Government of Bihar. Following his retirement in 1973, he was an adviser to the planning board of the state government. From 1974 to 1976 he was chairman of the Control Board of Medical Colleges. In 1983, he became chairman of the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation of India. He was president and founder of the Indian Orthopaedic Association, and a president of the Association of Surgeons of India and the Society for Rehabilitation of the Handicapped. He was the founder editor of the *Journal of Indian Orthopaedics*. He was vice president of the Red Cross Society in Bihar and India, and started the Red Cross poly-clinic at Patna and also a home for the aged. In 1971, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India, the third highest Indian civilian award. Outside medicine he enjoyed drama, music and studying. In June 1952 he married Ani, a tutor in a nursing school. They had three children – Gautam, John and Ciccu.