Alvar Gullstrand

GULLSTRAND, Alvar (born 1862), Swedish ophthalmologist. He graduated from the University of Uppsala and, after defending his doctoral dissertation in 1890, was appointed privatdozent in ophthalmology in 1891, and subsequently the first professor of the newly established chair of ophthalmology at the University of Uppsala. Gullstrand's work relates chiefly to questions concerning the refraction of the eye and a number of other problems in physiological optics closely linked to refraction and accommodation. Of particular interest in Gullstrand's work is the original mathematical method he used to study the phenomena of light refraction in ocular media, developing the theory of refraction in a centered optical system bounded by a series of spherical surfaces and having apertures of finite dimensions. The preceding works of Lagrange, Gauss, and Helmholtz pertained exclusively to systems with infinitely small apertures and infinitely thin bundles of rays. The new method introduced by Gullstrand, published largely in mathematical journals, created a new and important chapter in geometric optics. Gullstrand introduced a number of new concepts into practical optics, including the concept of the diopter. In addition to theoretical work in the field of refraction and accommodation, Gullstrand performed a series of studies related to the differential diagnosis of certain ocular paralyses and the investigation of the fovea centralis on the retina. He constructed a number of remarkable ophthalmic instruments, of which the most practical importance are: the slit lamp (microscopy of the living eye), the large reflex-free ophthalmoscope, aspheric cataract lenses, and others. Gullstrand is an honorary doctor of the Universities of Uppsala and Jena, a member of many Swedish and foreign societies, and a member of the physics section of the Nobel Committee attached to the Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. In 1911, Gullstrand received the Nobel Prize in Medicine. The most important of Gullstrand's numerous works include: Photographisch-ophthalmometrische Untersuchungen über die Hornhautrefraktion (Stockh., 1896); Allgemeine Theorie der monochromatischen Aberrationen u. ihre nächsten Ergebnisse f. die Ophthalmologie (Upsala, 1900); Tatsachen u. Fiktionen in der Lehre v. der optischen Abbildung (Arch. f. Optik, B. I, 1907); Die optische Abbildung in heterogenen Medien u. die Dioptrik der Kristallinse des Menschen (Arch. f. Ophthalmologie, B. XLIII, 1908); Die optische Abbildung (Hndb. der physiolog. Optik v. H. Helmholtz, B. I, Hamburg-Lpz., 1909).