Celebrating 65 years of the AO
On November 6, 2023, the AO Foundation celebrates 65 years. The AO formed in 1958, when a group of Swiss surgeons came together to champion revolutionary techniques of internal fixation that achieved unprecedented results in healing bone fractures. Today, the AO Foundation is a global organization with more than 20,000 surgeons as registered members, holding more than 800 educational events each year.
In our celebratory video series, Robin Greene talks to AO Foundation founding members Peter Matter and Thomas Rüedi about the AO’s spirit of collaboration and its impact on their careers. He also visits Peter Matter at his home in Davos and takes him on a drive through town, stopping by the locations that played an important role in the AO’s history.
In our celebratory video series, Robin Greene talks to AO Foundation founding members Peter Matter and Thomas Rüedi about the AO’s spirit of collaboration and its impact on their careers. He also visits Peter Matter at his home in Davos and takes him on a drive through town, stopping by the locations that played an important role in the AO’s history.
Getting to know the AO's founders
Interview with Thomas Rüedi and Peter Matter
Robin Greene meets AO Foundation founding members Peter Matter and Thomas Rüedi at the new AO offices in Zizers to talk about their very personal AO histories. Matter shares his recollections of the "open-minded discussions" during the first AO Davos Courses in 1960, and Rüedi remembers how friendships were valued and fostered between the founding members. "Today, the enthusiasm of members and faculty at the courses reflects this idea of friends, of an AO family."
Peter Matter’s AO Journey: Part 1
Peter Matter talks to Robin Greene about his childhood in Zollikon near Zurich and his early years as a surgeon in Chur, Basel and Davos. He shares how he wanted to apply for a job in the pathology department in Geneva, but since all the positions there were already taken, he "ended up with Allgöwer in Chur." Working with Martin Allgöwer shaped and defined his career, and he attended the first AO Davos Courses in 1960. Being too young and inexperienced to participate in the practicals, he remembers being "responsible for beer and sausages."
Coming up next
Get a sneak peek at our next celebratory video. Robin Greene takes Peter Matter on a drive through snowy Davos. Matter talks about his work as chief surgeon of the local hospital and reminisces about the early years of the AO.
Learn more about AO history
