Allvar Gullstrand Biography

Allvar Gullstrand was a reputed Swedish ophthalmologist and optician whose research on light-refracting technique of the eye won him the ‘Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine’ in 1911. He remains the only ophthalmologist to be awarded the ‘Nobel Prize’ for his work in ophthalmology. Two other ophthalmologists namely Fritz Pregl and Walter Hess, who received the Nobel Prize, were not related to ophthalmology or vision. Procedures of physical mathematics were applied by Gullstrand to study optical images as also the way light is refracted by the eye. The structure of the cornea was detailed by him. He is also distinguished for his research on the optical defect called astigmatism and his work in improving corrective lenses for use of those who underwent cataract surgery. His notable research in improving the ‘slit lamp instrument’ or ‘ophthalmoscope’ and procedures of focal illumination applied especially using ‘slit lamp instrument’ achieved great significance in the field of practical ophthalmology. As an elected member of the ‘Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences’, he served the ‘Nobel Physics Committee’ of the academy. He doubted accuracy of Albert Einstein’s ‘Theory of Relativity’ and thus used his position to ensure that Einstein would not receive a ‘Nobel Prize in Physics’ for such theory.