Who was Allvar Gullstrand?

By Frank Tsai, MSIII
Temple University School of Medicine

Background

The son of a well-respected physician, Allvar Gullstrand was born on June 5, 1862, in Landskrona, Sweden. From an early age, he demonstrated a deep interest and an astonishing precocity for mathematics. His skills in this area were nurtured by a former university mathematics professor, though much of the differential geometry that he later applied in his most influential works was largely self-taught. While initially deliberating on whether to pursue a career in engineering or medicine, he ultimately followed his father's example and chose the latter. He completed his medical studies at Stockholm in 1888 and went on to become the first Professor of Ophthalmology at Uppsala University in 1894.

Work as an Ophthalmologist

Gullstrand was described as a tireless investigator who, in addition to his regular work hours, specifically dedicated holidays and the hours of 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. for his scientific work [1]. He is most noted for his work on astigmatism, principles of optical physics, and the physiology of the anterior eye. He received very little recognition among the international community early on in his career, most likely due to the fact that most of his publications remained untranslated in Swedish or German [2].

Though he was a remarkable pioneer of optical physics, his greatest achievements lay in the invention of the slit lamp and the perfection of the reflexless ophthalmoscope. Interestingly, it was not until Professor Henker, head of the medical department of the Zeiss works in Jena, combined Gullstrand's slit lamp with a binocular microscope was the modern day slit lamp microscope created. This allowed for examination of the anterior eye that was until then impossible. Gullstrand's reflexless ophthalmoscope still serves as the basis of the fundus camera used by today's ophthalmologists [3].

In 1911, Gullstrand was honored with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on "the diffraction of light by lenses applied to one eye [4]." Gullstrand was the only ophthalmologist to have received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work pertaining to the eye, as well as only one of nine surgeons to ever receive this level of distinction [5].

The Academic Senate of the University of Uppsala, in recognition of his capacity as a researcher, specially created and assigned him a Personal Professorship in Physical and Physiological Optics in 1914. He remained there until 1927 when he was appointed Emeritus Professor. He passed away of a stroke on July 28, 1930, at the age of 68. Gullstrand's contribution to the field of ophthalmology is considered to be of similar magnitude as to that of Helmholtz, inventor of the ophthalmoscope and fellow pioneer in optical physics [6].

Eponyms

Gullstrand schematic eye: A representative and conceptual model of the eye using the refractive indices of the various eye components. In Gullstrand's simplified schematic eye, the cornea is depicted as having one refracting surface, while Gullstrand's non-simplified schematic eye uses two refracting surfaces [7].

Gullstrand slit lamp: In his original version, the slit lamp consisted of a filament bulb, system of lenses, and slit opening to produce a focused beam of high intensity light [8]. He utilized it to examine the anterior eye and vitreous.

References

1. Nordenson JW. Allvar Gullstrand (1862–1930). Documenta Ophthalmologica 1962;16(1):283-337.
2. Snyder C. Allvar Gullstrand, Nobel Laureate. Archives of Ophthalmology 1962;68(1):139-41.

3. Berndt Ehinger. Highlights of Swedish ophthalmology in the 20th century. Acta Ophthalmologica 2008;86(8):821-9.

4. Nobel Lectures, Physiology or Medicine 1901-1921. Amsterdam: Elsevier Publishing Company; 1967.

5. Cosimi AB, editor Surgeons and the Nobel Prize 2006: Amer Medical Assoc.

6. Blauuw E. ALLVAR GULLSTRAND, M.D. 1862-1930. Archives of Ophthalmology 1931;5(2):294-5.

7. Almeida MSd, Carvalho LA. Different schematic eyes and their accuracy to the in vivo eye: a quantitative comparison study. Brazilian Journal of Physics 2007;37:378-87.

8. Albert DM. A lonesome giant of optical theory. Trends in Neurosciences 1980;3(12):IV-VI.