Timeline of ophthalmology

From Timelines
Jump to: navigation, search

This is a timeline of ophthalmology, listing important events in the development of the field.

Big picture

Time period Development summary
Ancient history "In ancient times, the anatomical conceptions of the eye were primarily speculatory. The sclera and cornea were understood to form part of the outer layer of the eye, with the pupil and ocular fluid occupying the middle part. This fluid was thought to flow to the brain via a tube. Aristotle introduced empiricism to these fancied structures by dissecting the eyes of animals, and he thus discovered three layers within the eye."[1]
Middle Ages Ophthalmologic progress slows during the Middle Ages. Roger Bacon, however, makes a notable contribution to ophthalmology with his work, Opus Majus.[2]
19th century "The introduction of the ophthalmoscope in the 19th century brought about a period of consolidation and deepened knowledge of the eye, and treatment of various ocular diseases. This increased the level of precision that was possible in the diagnosis and treatment of ophthalmologic conditions. In particular, the operative treatment of glaucoma was refined at this time, and has helped greatly to improve patient outcomes."[1]
20th century "Throughout the 20th century, the investigations in the field of ophthalmology were further expanded. Several subspecialties were introduced to focus on particular areas or diseases of the eye. These include cataract, glaucoma, pediatrics, cornea and oncology subspecializations, among others."[1]


Full timeline

Year Event type Details Location
1550 BC Field development In the Ebers Papyrus, a section is devoted to eye diseases.[3] Egypt
800 BC Field development Indian surgeon Sushruta describes 76 ocular diseases, as well as several ophthalmological techniques and instruments. Sushruta is particularly interested in cataract surgery, and is referred to as the first cataract surgeon.[1] India
600 BC Field development Surgeons in ancient India already practice couching.[4] India
25 BC – 50 AD Field development Greek philosopher Celsus draws the lens in the center of the eye.[4]
c.70 AD – c.100 AD Field development Greek physician Rufus of Ephesus puts forward the concept of a fourth layer, the epithelial layer that covers the eye. Rufus also notes that the eye has two chambers, one filled with water extending from the cornea to the lens, and one filled with viscous fluid occupying the space between the lens and the retina.[1]
1011 – 1021 Literature Arab polymath Ibn al-Haytham writes his Book of Optics.[5]
1015 Field development Arab Muslim ophthalmologist Ammar Al-Mawsili describes the suction of a cataract through the needle.[4] Middle East
1600 Field development Italian anatomist Hieronymus Fabricius illustrates the lens in its true anatomic position.[4] Italy
1696 – 1762 Field development French ophthalmologist Jacques Daviel publishes the first account of cataract extraction through an inferior corneal incision.[4] France
1753 Field development English surgeon Samuel Sharp successfully performs intracapsular cataract extraction.[4][6][7][8] United Kingdom
1805 Organization (hospital) The first hospital dedicated to the practice of ophthalmics opens in London.[1] United Kingdom
1828 – 1870 Field development Prussian ophthalmologist Albrecht von Graefe improves Jacques Daviel's extracapsular cataract extraction technique using a superior corneal incision.[4] Germany
1846 Literature Danish pathologist Adolph Hanover publishes On the Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology of the Eye.[9] Denmark
1847 Field development English mathematician Charles Babbage invents the ophthalmoscope, which enables viewing of the interior of the eye.[10] United Kingdom
1851 Field development German physician Hermann von Helmholtz independently reinvents the ophthalmoscope.[11][12][1][10] Germany
1862 Field development Dutch ophthalmologist Hermann Snellen develops his eponymous Snellen chart to measure visual acuity. The chart would rapidly become a global standard.[13] Netherlands
1869 Literature Archives of Ophthalmology and Otology is released.[14] United States
1873 Field development German physicist Ernst Abbe discovers the optical formula now called the Abbe sine condition, one of the requirements that a lens must satisfy if it is to form a sharp image, free from the blurring or distortion caused by coma and spherical aberration.[15] Germany
1881 Literature Journal Transactions of the Ophthalmological Societies of the United Kingdom is established.[16] United Kingdom
1884 Journal The American Journal of Ophthalmology is established.[17] United States
1904 Literature Journal Transactions of the Ophthalmological Division of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Oto-Laryngology is established.[18] United States
1911 Field development Swedish ophthalmologist Allvar Gullstrand receives the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for his work on the dioptrics of the eye."[19] Sweden
1917 Literature The British Journal of Ophthalmology is established.[20] United Kingdom
1917 Field development Spanish ophthalmologist Ignacio Barraquer invents the first motorized vacuum instrument (erisophake) for intracapsular cataract extraction.[13] Spain
1922 Organization The American Academy of Optometry is founded.[21] United States
1923 Literature Peer-reviewed medical journal Acta Ophthalmologica is established.[22] Denmark
1924 Literature The American Journal of Optometry is established.[23] United States
1929 Literature Journal Archives of Ophthalmology is established by the American Medical Association.[18] United States
1930 Field development Japanese ophthalmologist Tsutomu Sato invents radial keratotomy treatment for myopia.[13] Japan
1950 Field development English ophthalmologist Sir Harold Ridley becomes the first to create and implant intraocular lenses in a two-step procedure.[2] Ridley first implants a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) intraocular lens (IOL) following removal of a cataractous crystalline lens.[24][25][26] United Kingdom
1951 Field development Strampelli starts to use anterior chamber intraocular lenses.[4] Italy
1953 Literature The Indian Journal of Ophthalmology is first issued.[27] India
1958 Field development Dutch ophthalmologist Cornelius Binkhorst introduces the first iris-clip lens.[13]
1960s Field development Spanish ophthalmologist José Barraquer, considered the "father of modern refractive surgery", develops lamellar techniques including keratomileusis and keratophakia, as well as the first microkeratome and corneal microlathe.[13]
1961 Field development Polish ophthalmologist Tadeusz Krwawicz develops the first cryoprobe for intracapsular cataract extraction.[4] Poland
1962 Journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science is launched.[18] United States
1967 Field development American ophthalmologist Charles Kelman develops phacoemulsification, a cataract surgery in which the eye's internal lens is emulsified with an ultrasonic handpiece and aspirated from the eye.[4] United States
1970 – 1975 Field development Charles Kelman pioneers phacoemulsification.[28]
1975 Field development American ophthalmologist Charles Kelman begins designing lens implants to use in cataract surgery.[2] United States
1980 Literature Peer-reviewed medical journal Neuro-Ophthalmology is launched.[29]
1981 Literature Medical journal Current Eye Research is established.[30]
1984 Field development Thomas Mazzocco develops the first foldable intraocular lens.[4][31][28]
1985 Literature The Journal of Refractive Surgery is launched.[32]
1985 Field development Seiler performs the first large area ablation in a human eye to remove a corneal scar having previously performed T-incisions with an excimer laser to correct for astigmatism.[33]
1986 Literature Peer-reviewed medical journal Seminars in Ophthalmology is established.
1988 Field development McDonald performs the first photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) on a sighed eye due for enucleation.[33]
1990 Literature Peer-reviewed medical journal Journal of Behavioral Optometry is launched.[34]
1992 Field development The first commercial optical coherence tomography (OCT) company, Advanced Ophthalmic Devices (AOD), is developed by Fujimoto, Puliafito and Swanson.[28]
1993 Field development The first in-vivo retinal use of optical coherence tomography (OCT) takes place at the New England Medical Center, Tufts University School of Medicine.[28] United States
1993 Literature The Middle East Journal of Ophthalmology is established.[35]
1995 Literature Peer-reviewed open access medical journal Molecular Vision is launched.[36]
1997 Field development The United States Food and Drug Administration approves the first multifocal intraocular lens.[4] United States
1997 Organization The European Association for Vision and Eye Research is formed with the aim of bringing together all European associations involved in ophthalmology and vision science research.[37][38]
1998 Field development The United States Food and Drug Administration approves the first toric intraocular lens.[4] United States
2007 Literature Journal Clinical Ophthalmology is established.[39]
2009 Field development The United States Food and Drug Administration approves the first femtosecond laser system for cataract procedures.[4] United States

Numerical and visual data

Google Scholar

The following table summarizes per-year mentions on Google Scholar as of August 15, 2021.

Year ophthalmology
1900 321
1910 507
1920 805
1930 1,800
1940 2,300
1950 2,210
1960 2,900
1970 4,420
1980 7,690
1990 12,300
2000 45,000
2010 103,000
2020 82,000


Ophthalmology google schoolar.png

Google Trends

The comparative chart below shows Google Trends data for Ophthalmology (Branch of medicine) and Ophthalmology (Search term), from January 2004 to March 2021, when the screenshot was taken. Interest is also ranked by country and displayed on world map.[40]

Ophthalmology gt.png

Google Ngram Viewer

The chart below shows Google Ngram Viewer data for Ophthalmology, from 1700 to 2019.[41]

Ophthalmology ngram.png

Wikipedia Views

The chart below shows pageviews of the English Wikipedia article Ophthalmology, on desktop, mobile-web, desktop-spider, mobile-web-spider and mobile app, from July 2015 to February 2021.[42]

Ophthalmology wv.png


Meta information on the timeline

How the timeline was built

The initial version of the timeline was written by User:Sebastian.

Funding information for this timeline is available.

Feedback and comments

Feedback for the timeline can be provided at the following places:

  • FIXME

What the timeline is still missing

Timeline update strategy

See also

External links

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "History of Ophthalmology". news-medical.net. Retrieved 10 September 2018. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 "3 HISTORICAL ADVANCEMENTS IN OPHTHALMOLOGY". research.sklarcorp.com. Retrieved 10 September 2018. 
  3. "History of Ophthalmology". www.mrcophth.com. 
  4. 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 Preedy, Victor R. Handbook of Nutrition, Diet and the Eye. 
  5. DK. Timelines of Science. 
  6. Shaikh, Saad. Eyes on Ice & No Blind Mice: Visions of Science from the Science of Vision. 
  7. Randleman, Bradley; Ahmed, Iqbal Ike K. Intraocular Lens Surgery. 
  8. Handbook of Nutrition, Diet and the Eye (Victor R. Preedy ed.). 
  9. Sebastian, Anton. A Dictionary of the History of Medicine. 
  10. 10.0 10.1 Hopp, Wallace J.; Lovejoy, William S. Hospital Operations: Principles of High Efficiency Health Care. 
  11. Tandon, Prakash Narain; Ramamurthi, Ravi. Textbook of Neurosurgery, Third Edition, Three Volume Set. 
  12. Optics in Our Time (Mohammad D. Al-Amri, Mohamed El-Gomati, M. Suhail Zubairy ed.). 
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 Goes, Frank Joseph. The Eye in History. 
  14. "A New Editor and a Birthday for the Archives of Ophthalmology". jamanetwork.com. Retrieved 13 September 2018. 
  15. "Ernst Abbe". britannica.com. Retrieved 10 September 2018. 
  16. Lotery, A J; Watson, P. "EYE: a journal to be proud of". PMC 3650288Freely accessible. doi:10.1038/eye.2013.49. 
  17. "American Journal of Ophthalmology 1993–2002: A Decade of Change". ajo.com. Retrieved 13 September 2018. 
  18. 18.0 18.1 18.2 Cole, Jim; Stankus, Tony. Journals of the Century. 
  19. "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1911". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 18 September 2018. 
  20. "British Journal of Ophthalmology" (PDF). bjo.bmj.com. Retrieved 13 September 2018. 
  21. "What is the Academy?". aaopt.org. Retrieved 30 September 2018. 
  22. Heijl, Anders. "Acta, Past and Future". onlinelibrary.wiley.com. Retrieved 13 September 2018. 
  23. "Early and Miscellaneous Periodicals Collection" (PDF). aoa.org. Retrieved 30 September 2018. 
  24. Sitharaman, Balaji. Nanobiomaterials Handbook. 
  25. The Sight-saving Review, Volumes 30-31 (National Society for the Prevention of Blindness, Incorporated, 1960 - Eye ed.). 
  26. Garg, Ashok; Chang, David F. Advances in Ophthalmology. 
  27. "IJO". ijo.in. Retrieved 18 September 2018. 
  28. 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 Boyd, Benjamin. Modern Ophthalmology: The Highlights. 
  29. "Reviews in Neurology and Ophthalmology". healio.com. Retrieved 18 September 2018. 
  30. "Current Eye Research". tandfonline.com. Retrieved 18 September 2018. 
  31. "Phaco turns 50". eyeworld.org. Retrieved 27 September 2018. 
  32. "Development and Growth of the ISRK". Retrieved 18 September 2018. 
  33. 33.0 33.1 Nema, HV; Nema, Nitin. Recent Advances in Ophthalmology-12, Volume 12. 
  34. "Our Human Family" (PDF). ovpjournal.org. Retrieved 18 September 2018. 
  35. "Middle East African Journal of Ophthalmology". meajo.org. Retrieved 13 September 2018. 
  36. "Web journal receives national recognition". emory.edu. Retrieved 18 September 2018. 
  37. "Dr Barraquer, a member of the University Advisory Council, has been appointed president of the European Association for Vision and Eye Research". uic.es. Retrieved 18 September 2018. 
  38. "European Association for Vision and Eye Research". ever.be. Retrieved 18 September 2018. 
  39. Fraser, Scott G. "Welcome to Clinical Ophthalmology". PMC 2699991Freely accessible. PMID 19668460. 
  40. "Ophthalmology". Google Trends. Retrieved 25 March 2021. 
  41. "Ophthalmology". books.google.com. Retrieved 25 March 2021. 
  42. "Ophthalmology". wikipediaviews.org. Retrieved 25 March 2021.