Frédérick Leboyer (1918-2017) was the founder of the gentle birth movement. He was the first physician to challenge society’s deeply held beliefs about awareness in the newborn, and his groundbreaking Birth without Violence revolutionized the course of prenatal care and the way babies are introduced into the world. A retired obstetrician who attended more than 10,000 births, he was a graduate of the University of Paris School of Medicine, where he served as Chef de Clinique.