- Louis Émile Javal
Louis Émile Javal (
May 5 ,1839 -January 20 ,1907 ) was a Frenchophthalmologist who was born inParis . Originally trained as acivil engineer , he switched to the medical profession, receiving his doctorate from theUniversity of Paris in 1865. After graduation he travelled toBerlin and studied underAlbrecht von Graefe (1828-1870). During theFranco-Prussian War he served as a medical officer. In 1878 he opened an ophthalmological laboratory at theSorbonne and was its director until 1900.Javal is remembered for his studies of physiological
optics and his work concerning a disorder known asstrabismus . With his studentHjalmar August Schiøtz (1850-1927) he constructed an earlykeratometer , also known as the Javal Schiötz Ophthalmometer. This device is used to measure the curvature of thecornea l surface of the eye, as well as to determine the extent and axis ofastigmatism . Javal also made important contributions in regards to the study ofeye tracking , and with his assistant Marius Hans Erik Tscherning (1854-1939), he performed studies ofoptics and astigmatism.Javal's interest in strabismus was due to the disorder affecting his father and sister. Javal himself had
heterochromia . At middle-age Javal developedglaucoma and by 1900 was totally blind. Today the "Louis Emile Javal Silver Service Award" is issued by the International Contact Lens Council of Ophthalmology.Javal was the first to describe eye movements during reading in the late 19th century. He reported that eyes do not move continuously along a line of text, but make short rapid movements (saccades) intermingled with short stops (fixations). Javal's observations were characterised by a reliance on naked-eye observation of eye movement in the absence of technology.
Bibliography
* "Du strabisme, dans ses applications à la théorie de la vision". Doctoral dissertation, Paris, 1868.
* "Manuel du strabisme". Paris, 1896.
* "Physiologie de la lecture et de l’écriture". Paris, 1905; Bibliography in Annales d’oculistique, Paris, 1907, 137: 187.
* "Un opthalmomètre pratique. Annales d’oculistique", L. E. Javal, H. Schiötz: Paris, 1881, 86: 5-21.References
* [http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/3043.html Who Named It? Louis Émile Javal]
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