Main description:

There have been books over the years discussing the history of ophthalmology, but none that focus directly on just the most critical thinkers whose insights provided the foundation for the discipline. These men and women advanced knowledge about vision, diagnosis, disease mechanisms, and therapy through innovative thinking and perseverance against old ideas. Their stories are intriguing at a personal level and for showing the complexity of advancing medical science and, therefore, should be required reading for anyone practicing ophthalmology.

Foundations of Ophthalmology includes giants such as Young (the nature of color and light), Braille (a practical reading system for the blind), Helmholtz (development of the ophthalmoscope), von Graefe (defining glaucoma), Curie (discovery of radiation and the basis of radiation therapy), Gonin (demonstration how to cure retinal detachment), Ridley (serendipity that led to intraocular lenses), and Kelman (development of phacoemulsification that revolutionized cataract surgery).

Contents:

Chapter 1. Johannes Kepler and Rene Descartes: A Retinal Image is Transmitted to the Brain Ronald S. Fishman, MD

Chapter 2. Jacques Daviel and the Invention of Modern Cataract Surgery

Daniel M. Albert, MD

Chapter 3. John Dalton: the Recognition of Color Deficiency

Michael F. Marmor, MD

Chapter 4. Thomas Young and the Foundations of Light, Color, and Optics

John W. Gittinger, Jr., MD

Chapter 5. Valentin Hauy and Louis Braille: Enabling Education for the Blind

Alan R. Morse, JD, PhD

Chapter 6. Jan Evangelista Purkinje: Visual Physiologist

Gerald A. Fishman, MD and Marlene Fishman

Chapter 7. Franciscus Donders and the Management of Anomalies of Refraction

David Harper, MD

Chapter 8. Hermann von Helmholtz: The Power of Ophthalmoscopy

James G. Ravin, MD, MS

Chapter 9. Dr. Graefe Will See You Now. The Beginnings of Scientific Ophthalmology and Education in the Middle of the Nineteenth Century

Steven A. Newman, M.D

Chapter 10. Karl Koller and the Introduction of Local Anesthesia

Ronald S. Fishman, MD

Chapter 11. Foundations of Ophthalmology: Great Insights That Established the Discipline

Allvar Gullstrand: Dioptrics of the Eye and the Slit Lamp

Richard Keeler

Chapter 12. Marie Curie: Radiation as Medium That Can Cure

Jasmine H. Francis, MD

Chapter 13. Jules Gonin: Proving the Cause and Cure of Retinal Detachment

Chapter 14. Harold Ridley and the Development of a Plastic Implantable Lens

Curtis E. Margo, MD, MPH

Chapter 15. Oxygen and Retinopathy of Prematurity: The Insights of Arnall Patz and Norman Alston

Monte D. Mills and Graham E. Quinn

Chapter 16. Charles Kelman: Phacoemulsification and Small Incision Cataract Surgery

Norman B. Medow, MD