Unknown Facts,
Today is the 108th birthday of Otto Wichterle, today 27 October. He was a renowned Czech chemist who is credited for inventing the modern soft contact lens. Through his invention, he has changed the lives of millions of people around the world. Wichterle can be seen holding a single piece of contact lens upon his fingertips. As he does so, the light is reflected from the Google logo in the background that represents eyesight.
Born on 27 October, 1913 in Prostĕjov, the Czech Republic (then, Austria-Hungary), Wichterle was a lover of science from his childhood days. Because of his interest and passion for the subject, Wichterle earned his doctorate in organic chemistry from the Prague Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) in the year 1936.
During the 1950s, Wichterle taught as a professor at his alma mater and side by side, he developed an absorbent and transparent gel for eye implants.
Later on, in 1961, Wichterle successfully formed the first soft contact lenses. Surprisingly, he produced the contact lenses with a Do It Yourself (DIY) apparatus that was made of a child’s erector set, a phonograph motor, a bicycle light battery, and homemade glass tubing and molds.
Due to his lifelong research, Wichterle was chosen as the first President of the Academy of the Czech Republic after the country’s establishment in 1993.
Wichterle is the author of a large number of studies both great and small as well as several independent books on various aspects of organic, inorganic and macromolecular chemistry, polymer science and biomedical materials, while he had an even higher number of patents out for organic synthesis, polymerization, fibres, the synthesis and shaping of biomedical materials, production methods and measuring devices related to biomedical products. He is the author or co-author of approximately 180 patents and over 200 publications. This was typical of his attitude to scientific research which, he considered, ought to serve society and its requirements by any means possible, without distinction as to “pure” and “applied” science.
Wichterle was a member of a number of foreign academies of science, he received many awards and honorary doctorates from several universities.
- The asteroid number 3899 was named after Wichterle in 1993.
- A high school in Ostrava (in the district of Poruba) in the Czech Republic was named after him on September 1, 2006.
- On 27 October 2021, Google celebrated Wichterle’s 108th birth anniversary with a doodle on its homepage.
