Philippe Petit-Radel (Paris, 7 February 1749 – 30 November 1815) was a French physician, surgeon and writer, editor of the two volumes devoted to Surgery by the Encyclopédie méthodique.

After obtaining a medal, he was appointed assistant major at the Invalides and continued his medical and surgical studies under the direction of Sabatier.

He was teaching public classes there, when he was conscripted (Levée en masse) as a soldier and had to fight against the insurgents in the Vendée.

But he managed to escape and in June 1793 he embarked on the Pigon[7] an American ship which had been chartered for the Isle de France (Mauritius).

In 1798, he was elected to the chair of surgical clinic at the Paris School of Medicine, where he distinguished himself by his severity and his zeal to re-establish the ancient practice of speaking Latin.