Calot was born in a farmer family of six children and spent his childhood in Arrens-Marsous, France.[3] He received his bachelor's degree in 1880 at Saint-Pe de Bigorre and in 1881 moved to Paris, where he worked as a tutor to pay for his university education. While still a student he described Calot's triangle in his doctoral thesis, defended on 12 December 1890.[1] He then worked as a surgeon at l'Hôpital Rotschild and l'Hôpital Cazin-Perrochaud in Berck. He described his technique for treating Pott's disease of the spine in a paper he read to the Academy of Medicine in Paris in 1896.[2] Much of his work later in his career was in orthopaedic surgery, particularly the treatment of war injuries;[4] he founded the Institut orthopédique de Berck in 1900.[2]
Callot married Marie Bacqueville (1870–1934), and together they had four daughters.[1]
^Muirhead WR, O'Leary JP (1999). "Calot's triangle: loose interpretation or respectful accuracy?". Am Surg. 65 (2): 186–7. PMID9926757. gives birth date as 21 May
^Mounier-Kuhn A, Sutter B (2005). "[François Calot's concepts about the treatment of osteoarticular tuberculosis]". Hist Sci Med (in French). 39 (3): 303–14. PMID17152776.