Paul Broca. Portrait of French brain surgeon and anthropologist Paul Broca (1824-1880). Broca received his MD from the University of Paris in 1849, and was appointed assistant professor of medicine in 1853. He specialised in the brain, conducting surgical and postmortem examinations. Broca demonstrated that damage to a region of the brain (Broca's convolution) caused loss of speech. It showed that different brain regions control different body functions. In anthropology, Broca devised methods to measure skulls to compare pre- historic and modern humans, supporting Darwin's theories of evolution. Broca helped establish anthropology as a respectable science in France.