Walter Edward Dandy (1886-1946)

Dandy was a leading light in the initiation and development of neurosurgery, not only in his native America but also throughout the world. This paper attempts briefly to outline his main achievements. After a turbulent relationship with Cushing he emerged as a brilliant, if vain, surgeon and investigator, based mainly at Johns Hopkins. He initiated air ventriculography and effected original studies on cerebrospinal fluid formation and circulation. The Dandy-Walker syndrome, surgery for aneurysms and cerebellopontine angle tumours were but a few areas where he made his mark and left a lasting legacy of neurosurgical endeavour.