Google Doodle on Otto Wichterle, inventor of soft contact lens

Happy Birthday, Otto Wichterle!

Google today celebrates the 108th birthday of the Czech chemist who invented the soft contact lens—Otto Wichterle—might give you some fresh insight.

Otto Wichterle was born on this day in 1913 in Prostĕjov, the Czech Republic (then, Austria-Hungary). After finishing high school in Prostějov, Wichterle began to study at the Chemical and Technological Faculty of the Czech Technical University.

Otto Wichterle was also interested in medicine. He graduated in 1936 from the Prague Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT). As a lover of science from his youth, Wichterle went on to earn his doctorate in organic chemistry. Wichterle submitted his second doctorate thesis on chemistry in 1939 but the Protectorate regime blocked any further activity at the university. However, Wichterle was able to join the research institute at Baťa's works in Zlín and continue his scientific work.

Otto Wichterle taught as a professor at his alma mater during the 1950s while developing an absorbent and transparent gel for eye implants.

Political turmoil pushed Wichterle out of the ICT, leading him to continue refining his hydrogel development at home. In 1961, Wichterle (a glasses wearer himself) produced the first soft contact lenses with a DIY apparatus made of a child’s erector set, a bicycle light battery, a phonograph motor, and homemade glass tubing and molds. As the inventor of countless patents and a lifelong researcher, Wichterle was elected the first President of the Academy of the Czech Republic following the country’s establishment in 1993.

While Wichterle is most well-known as the inventor of contact lenses, his innovations also laid the foundation for state-of-the-art medical technologies such as “smart” biomaterials, which are used to restore human connective tissues, and bio-recognizable polymers, which have inspired a new standard for drug administration.    

Thank you Otto Wichterle for helping the world see eye to eye!

Also Read: Theodor Wonja Michael: Google doodle to honor German author, journalist, actor