Born in Paris on 23 February 1883, the son of Pierre Bazy (1853-1934), a leading urologist who was a member of the Académie de Médecine from 1913 and the Académie des Sciences from 1921, Louis Bazy studied at the Faculté de Médecine of Paris, graduated in 1910, and was promoted to consultant rank in 1913, becoming "chirurgien des hôpitaux" in 1919. He lost the sight of one eye in an accident in the operating theatre while he was an interne. During the first world war Bazy came into contact with surgeons from other lands, and from then on he endeavoured to strengthen international surgical co-operation. He won the Croix de Guerre and was created Officier of the Legion of Honour. Bazy was appointed consulting surgeon to the Hôpital St-Louis in 1930, and was also consulting surgeon to the French Army. He was elected an Honorary Fellow of the College in 1946, and was also an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, the Association of Surgeons, and the American College of Surgeons. He was President of the Académie nationale de Chirurgie in 1942, was elected one of its Honorary Members in 1950, and was also elected to the Académie de Médecine. As a military surgeon Bazy was particularly concerned with problems of infection and immunisation, and was a pioneer in vaccination against tetanus. He was a prolific writer, whose papers covered a wide field, including the medical service of the State Railways to which he was consulting surgeon. An excellent unofficial ambassador for France, Bazy strengthened the professional ties between France and England, in particular between the English College and the French Académie de Chirurgie. He died on 30 November 1960, aged 77; his wife was a grand-daughter of the famous surgeon Auguste Nélaton (1807-73).