Broca, Paul (pōl brôkä`), 1824–80, French pathologist, anthropologist, and pioneer in neurosurgery. A professor in Paris at the Faculty of Medicine and at the Anthropological Institute, he was a founder of the Anthropological Society of Paris (1859) and of the Revue d'anthropologie (1872). An authority on aphasia, he localized the brain center for articulate speech in the convolution of Broca, or Broca's area (the third convolution of the left frontal lobe). He originated methods of classifying hair and skin color and of establishing brain and skull ratios.

Broca, Paul

(born June 28, 1824, Sainte-Foy-la-Grande, Fr.—died July 9, 1880, Paris) French surgeon. His study of brain lesions contributed significantly to understanding of the origins of aphasia. Much of Broca's research concerned the comparative study of the skulls of the races of humankind, work that aided the development of modern physical anthropology. He originated methods to study the brain's form, structure, and surface features and sections of prehistoric skulls. His discovery (1861) of the brain's speech centre (convolution of Broca) was the first anatomical proof of localization of brain function.