Allvar Gullstrand: The Only Ophthalmologist Who Won the Nobel Prize

Abdelaziz A Awad; Hamad A Alkorbi; Hashem Abu Serhan

doi:10.7759/cureus.62513

Allvar Gullstrand: The Only Ophthalmologist Who Won the Nobel Prize

Cureus. 2024 Jun 17;16(6):e62513. doi: 10.7759/cureus.62513. eCollection 2024 Jun.

Authors

Abdelaziz A Awad¹, Hamad A Alkorbi², Hashem Abu Serhan³

Affiliations

¹ Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, EGY.
² Internal Medicine, Qatar University, Doha, QAT.
³ Ophthalmology, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, QAT.

Abstract

Allvar Gullstrand, the Swedish ophthalmologist and Nobel laureate, was a self-taught mathematician who applied mathematics and higher-order equations to understand the optic system. His inventions, the slit lamp, and the ophthalmoscope are used in clinical practice for the diagnosis of eye diseases. With his efforts, he explained the accommodation, the process of changing the shape of the lens to focus on near or distant objects. In 1911, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. In 1913, he was elected as the first president of the Swedish Ophthalmological Society. In 1927, he was awarded the Graefe Medal of the Deutsche Ophthalmologische Gesellschaft.

Keywords: allvar gullstrand; historical vignette; nobel prize; ophthalmoscope; schematic eye model; slit lamp.

Publication types

Review