Professor Mahalaingamoorthy Natarajan was professor of orthopaedics at Madras Medical College, India. He was born on 18 March 1920 in Kamuthi, in what was formerly Madras State, the son of Mahalingamoorthy and Pakkam Natarajan. After graduating BA, he studied medicine at Stanley Medical College in Madras. It was said that he won so many prizes during his student years he was known as *Medal Natarajan*. During the second world war he served with the RAMC and then proceeded to continue his orthopaedic training in the UK at the University of Liverpool, where he passed his MCh Orth. On his return to India he was appointed orthopaedic surgeon at the Stanley Medical College and Hospital and was also a visiting surgeon at a government tuberculosis sanatorium. In 1957 he was appointed professor and head of the department of orthopaedic surgery at Madras Medical College and the Government General Hospital. Remaining in this post until 1976, he was responsible for the development of advanced courses in orthopaedics, a school of physiotherapy and a school of prosthesis and orthotics. He also helped plan the Government Institute of Rehabilitation and Artificial Limb Centre in Madras and organise the accident services for Tamil Nadu. In 1982 he published the highly successful *Textbook of orthopaedics* in two volumes, it has since appeared in seven new editions. Appointed dean and principal of the Madras Medical College, when he retired he became emeritus professor of orthopaedic surgery. Active in numerous national and international bodies he was, among others, a member of the World Health Organisation’s Advisory Panel on Rehabilitation, a fellow of the British Orthopaedic Association and a founder member of World Orthopaedic Concern. He died in 2005 aged 85, survived by his five children. The eldest son, Mayil Vahanan Natarajan, born 24 December 1954, followed him into the study of orthopaedic surgery and is now a distinguished orthopaedic oncologist.