Editing Prosthesis (section)

=== Technology progress before the 20th century ===
An Italian surgeon recorded the existence of an amputee who had an arm that allowed him to remove his hat, open his purse, and sign his name.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Romm |first1=Sharon |title=Arms by Design |journal=Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery |date=July 1989 |volume=84 |issue=1 |pages=158–63 |pmid=2660173 |doi=10.1097/00006534-198907000-00029 }}</ref> Improvement in amputation surgery and prosthetic design came at the hands of [[Ambroise Paré]]. Among his inventions was an above-knee device that was a kneeling [[peg leg]] and foot prosthesis with a fixed position, adjustable harness, and knee lock control. The functionality of his advancements showed how future prosthetics could develop.

Other major improvements before the modern era:
* [[Pieter Verduyn]]&nbsp;– First non-locking below-knee (BK) prosthesis.
* [[James Potts]]&nbsp;– Prosthesis made of a wooden shank and socket, a steel knee joint and an articulated foot that was controlled by catgut tendons from the knee to the ankle. Came to be known as "Anglesey Leg" or "Selpho Leg".
* Sir [[James Syme]]&nbsp;– A new method of ankle amputation that did not involve amputating at the thigh.
* [[Benjamin Palmer]]&nbsp;– Improved upon the Selpho leg. Added an anterior spring and concealed tendons to simulate natural-looking movement.
* [[Dubois Parmlee]]&nbsp;– Created prosthetic with a suction socket, polycentric knee, and multi-articulated foot.
* [[Marcel Desoutter]] & [[Charles Desoutter]]&nbsp;– First aluminium prosthesis<ref>{{Cite news| url=http://www.amputee-coalition.org/inmotion/nov_dec_07/history_prosthetics.html | work=inMotion: A Brief History of Prosthetics | title=A Brief History of Prosthetics| date=November–December 2007| access-date=23 November 2010}}</ref>
* Henry Heather Bigg, and his son Henry Robert Heather Bigg, won the Queen's command to provide "surgical appliances" to wounded soldiers after Crimea War. They developed arms that allowed a double arm amputee to crochet, and a hand that felt natural to others based on ivory, felt and leather.<ref>Bigg, Henry Robert Heather (1885) [https://archive.org/details/b22293875 ''Artificial Limbs and the Amputations which Afford the Most Appropriate Stumps in Civil and Military Surgery'']. London</ref>

At the end of World War II, the NAS (National Academy of Sciences) began to advocate better research and development of prosthetics. Through government funding, a research and development program was developed within the Army, Navy, Air Force, and the Veterans Administration.