[The first anti-cancer center in Lyon (1923): surgeon Leon Berard and Auguste Lumiere]

At present, little is known about the creation of cancer hospitals. I will report on that of Lyons, France, with the famous surgeon, Léon Bérard (1870-1956). A specialist of neck surgery, he was the first to carry out major thoracoplasties. The cancer hospital was inaugurated in 1923 under the Great Dome of the hôtel-Dieu hospital. (The dome is the creation of the famous architect Germain Soufflot (1748)). In 1933, the cancer hospital moved in the newly-built Edouard Herriot Hospital; it became independent in 1958, two years after the famous surgeon's death, and it was rightly named after him: "Centre anticancéreux Léon Bérard". Its creation and its quick development owes a lot to generosity of Auguste Lumière, one of the two inventors of cinematograph. Auguste Lumière sponsored radiotherapy material and, at Léon Bérard's request (as there was a lack of space in Edouard Herriot hospital), created a centre for cancer patients (Bon Abr Hospital, rue Mistral, with Dr Vigne). A Lumière gave his time as well as his money for the centre; he was the car-driver, he helped L. Bérard with his university classes, and he often comforted the patients while running a private clinic (La Clinique Lumière), which combined dispensary services with research. (Micheline Bonin)