Professor Gustav Alexander was an Austrian Otolauringologist. Born in Vienna in 1873. Prof. Alexander received his medical degree in 1898. He was mainly trained in anatomy, neurology, histopathology and other areas in addition to ontology. Today is his death anniversary.
He has been famous for his description of Alexander’s law. His edict that gaze in the direction of the fast component increased the intensity of the nystagmus, while gaze in the opposite direction had the reverse effect, added diagnostic significance to the laws of nystagmus.
He personally funded and established a histopathology lab for his students. In addition to being a wonderful scientist, he was also a talented pianist. The expression of his appreciation for the arts extended to his collection of paintings, bronzes, silver and early tiles.
Later, he published Ear diseases of childhood and the handbook of Oto-neurology. On April 12th, 1932, Professor Gustav Alexander was shot dead by his own patient. He had performed saddle-nose surgery on a patient, Johann Sokoup, who was not happy with the results, hence, the same person has tried shooting 22 years before that and missed the aim, unfortunately. His death is considered an irreparable loss to the otology. He published an average of 12 articles every year.
Here I am with another interesting article in the category Today in History on the one and only Ophthalmologist who has been awarded Nobel prize for Ophthalmology related research. Hope you have guessed it by now.
Yes, It’s Allvar Gullstrand and it’s his birthday. A Swedish Ophthalmologist and a self-taught mathematician. Slit-lamp invented by him is the most common inventions of him which every student must have known by now. When I sat down to write this article, I have found tons of information online. So, I will just try to make things as simple as possible.
Jules Francois was born on 24th May 1907, Gingelon, in the region of Limburg, Belgium. He graduated in medicine in 1930. In the beginning, he was interested in microbiology, but his early study on the production of cataract by immunologic response had stimulated him towards Ophthalmology.
Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Albrecht Von Graefe (22 May 1828 – 20 July 1870)
Happy Birthday to the founder of Scientific Ophthalmology and father of glaucoma- Von Graefe
He was born in Berlin on 22th May 1828 and was the third son of Carl Ferdinand Von Graefe. His father died when Graefe was only 12. Graefe was an extremely brilliant student from childhood. In 1847, he graduated at the age of 19.
Born on May 15, 1857, and was the 2nd son of late Reverend P. W. Doyne. Educated at Bristol medical school and St. George hospital in London. He then entered the medical service of the Navy. But after marriage in 1885, he had settled in Oxford, devoting himself to Ophthalmology.
At that time, there was neither an Ophthalmic surgeon nor a clinic in the city. After many difficulties, he founded Oxford Eye Hospital. He was an extraordinary clinical observer and some of his observations are given below.
Doyne’s cataract (discoid cataract):
In 1906, Nettleship and Ogilvie published an extensive study of the occurrence of congenital cataract in the Coppock family. The first observation on this familial anomaly was made by Doyne, who had the opportunity of examining the first, second and third, and possibly fourth, cases in this family between 1888 and 1896. Members of the family were affected by a definite and peculiar type of stationary congenital cataract, which showed but slight variation in clinical appearance. It was a disk-shaped opacity of steel grey colour in focal light. Furthermore, opacity made the fundus invisible or, at best, only dimly discernible.
Doyne choroiditis (genetictraitresulting in retinaldegenerationandretinaldrusen):
In 1899, he first described an English family with a condition which he called choroiditis, and which was subsequently known as Doyne’s honeycomb degeneration of the retina. His first description was brief and stressed the familial nature of the condition. Choroiditis noted in four sisters and their father and one of his brothers and the paternal grandmother. There was a honeycomb appearance of the fundus with white spots affecting the macular region of the disc. Eleven years later, a female cousin of the same family was also affected. He thought of making copies of the pedigree and circulating to his colleagues as the family was dispersed all over the country. There were two families which he was trying to link together: Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.
Doyne’s conjunctivitis (a form of conjunctive blepharitis), Doyne’s honeycomb macular dystrophy, and Doyne Iritis (greyprecipitatefound on iris), and also invented a number of appliances including, stereoscopes, tonometers and retinoscopes. He was the first person to describe small breaks in Bruch’s membrane. Also called Angiloid streaks (Knapp streaks or Knapp striae) by Herman Jakob Knapp after few years. He also described pseudo-cataract (so-called lens with double focus). Wrote “Notes on the more common diseases of the eye”.
He died at his residence in Woodstock Road, Oxford, on August 30th, 1916, leaving a widow and two sons, of whom one – Philip Geoffrey Doyne, FRCS. Two years after his death, Doyne memorial lecture and medal was established which even today remains as one of the top awards in British Ophthalmology.
Crypts of Henle (Microscopic pockets located in the conjunctiva of the eye), Henle’s membrane (Bruch’s layer forming the inner boundary of the choroid of the eye), Hassall-Henle bodies, Henle’s fissure, Henle’s ampulla, Henle’s layer, ligament, Spine, Henle’s sheath, loop of Henle, Glands and tubes of Henle
Do you realize what’s common in all the above?
Jacob Henle was a great German anatomist and one of the most important histologists of all times. He was born on July 19, 1809, Fürth, near Nuremberg, Bavaria Read More
Dr. Otto Schirmer (13 December, 1864 – 6 May, 1918)
Otto Schirmer was born in Greifswald, Germany, in 1864. His father was Rudolf Schirmer, an ophthalmologist who published a number of papers on dacryological topics in several German journals.
He had extraordinary musical talent and also an excellent pianist. He also organized many concerts and musical conferences in Greifswald, arranging for the best German performers of the time to play at the Konzertverein of Greifswald. Read More