Thomas Muutter was an audacious medical innovator who pioneered the use of ether as anaesthesia, the sterilisation of surgical tools and a compassion-based vision for helping the severely deformed, which clashed with the sentiments of the mid-nineteenth century. Brilliant, outspoken and handsome, Mutter was flamboyant in every aspect of his life. He wore pink silk suits to perform surgery, added an umlaut to his surname just because he could and amassed an immense collection of medical oddities that would later form Philadelphia's Mutter Museum.