–
Oct 3, 2016: Announcement of winners of the Nobel Prize 2016 kicked off in the following categories: Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, Peace, and Economic Science. Yoshinori Ohsumi, a Japanese cell biologist, bagged the Nobel Laureate in Physiology and Medicine for his discovery of mechanisms for autophagy. While the announcements continue and as we await awardees in other categories, let’s take a glimpse of the optical industry’s major contributors to scientific development.
–
Allvar Gullstrand (1862-1930)
Gullstrand, a Swedish ophthalmologist, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1911 for his study and research on “the eye as a light-refracting apparatus”. He contributed to knowledge of the structure and function of the cornea, as well as, to research studies on astigmatism. He also improved corrective lenses for use after surgery for cataracts and devised the Gullstrand slit lamp, a valuable diagnostic tool that facilitates detailed study of the eye. These investigations led to a new concept called “optical images”. Gullstrand was entirely self-taught in most of his geometric and physiological optic works. His major writings on physiological optics, along with his other works, received awards in various medical institutions.
–
Ragnar Granit (1900-1991), Haldan Keffer Hartline (1903-1983),
and George Wald (1906-1997)
In 1967, Granit, Hartline, and Wald jointly received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their contribution to the study of primary physiological and chemical visual processes in the eye. Hartline studied the inhibitory interaction in and the receptor properties of the Limulus retina. Wald discovered that Vitamin A is an important component of a light-sensitive substance in the retina, called rhodopsin, which is responsible for visual impressions in the brain. On the other hand, between the 1930s to 1950s, Granit studied the electrical impulses from the retina’s cells and demonstrated the different types of cones which are sensitive to light of three different wavelengths.
–
David H. Hubel (1926–2013)
In 1981, Hubel, a Canadian neurophysiologist, along with the Swedish neurophysiologist, Dr. Torsten Wiesel (1924), won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their contribution to the study of visual perception and sensory deprivation “by measuring the electrical impulses of cells in the visual cortex”. They discovered that “vision does not develop normally if the brain fails to make connections with the eye during a critical window early in life”. The discovery played a major role in the development of systems in treating cataracts of infants in order to prevent vision impairment in its early stages. The study also lead to the development of treatment of strabismus.
(Source: Agencies)
–
–
