caption research_field death_date death_place years_active profession work_institutions birth_date known_for prizes image article_title education name specialism
paul randall harrington post-poliomyelitis scoliosis 29 november 1980 houston , texas 1939 - 1980 surgeon jefferson of kansas medical center davis county hospital baylor college of medicine university 27 september 1911 design of the harrington rod cora and webb mading medal nicolas andry award paul randall harrington.jpg paul randall harrington
 university of kansas paul randall harrington orthopaedic surgery
paul randall harrington

paul randall harrington -lrb- september 27 , 1911 -- november 29 , 1980 -rrb- was an american orthopaedic surgeon .
he is best known as the designer of the harrington rod , the first device for the straightening and immobilization of the spine inside the body .
it entered common use in the early 1960s and remained the gold standard for scoliosis surgery until the late 1990s .
during this period over one million people benefited from harrington 's procedure .
