Robert William Smith MD FRCSI MRIA (12 October 1807 in Dublin – 28 October 1873) was an Irish surgeon and pathologist who described Smith's fracture in his 1847 book,[1] the first important book on fractures by an Irish author.
He co-founded the Dublin Pathological Society in 1838 with Abraham Colles, Sir Dominic Corrigan and William Stokes.
[4] Robert Smith published on a wide variety of subjects, particularly the pathology of surgical diseases, congenital joint dislocations and neuroma.
Cameron in his History of the RCSI claims that Smith was one of the most distinguished anatomists and surgeons of his time.
In his Treatise on the Pathology, Diagnosis and Treatment of Neuroma[6] he described neurofibromatosis 33 years before von Recklinghausen.