Chapter 1. Johannes Kepler and René Descartes: A Retinal Image is Transmitted to the Brain -- Chapter 2. Jacques Daviel and the Invention of Modern Cataract Surgery -- Chapter 3. John Dalton: the Recognition of Color Deficiency -- Chapter 4. Thomas Young and the Foundations of Light, Color, and Optics -- Chapter 5. Valentin Haüy and Louis Braille: Enabling Education for the Blind -- Chapter 6. Jan Evangelista Purkinje: Visual Physiologist -- Chapter 7. Franciscus Donders and the Management of Anomalies of Refraction -- Chapter 8. Hermann von Helmholtz: The Power of Ophthalmoscopy -- Chapter 9. Dr. Graefe Will See You Now. The Beginnings of Scientific Ophthalmology and Education in the Middle of the Nineteenth Century -- Chapter 10. Karl Koller and the Introduction of Local Anesthesia -- Chapter 11. Foundations of Ophthalmology: Great Insights That Established the Discipline Allvar Gullstrand: Dioptrics of the Eye and the Slit Lamp -- Chapter 12. Marie Curie: Radiation as Medium That Can Cure -- Chapter 13. Jules Gonin: Proving the Cause and Cure of Retinal Detachment -- Chapter 14. Harold Ridley and the Development of a Plastic Implantable Lens -- Chapter 15. Oxygen and Retinopathy of Prematurity: The Insights of Arnall Patz and Norman Alston -- Chapter 16. Charles Kelman: Phacoemulsification and Small Incision Cataract Surgery.

There have been books over the years discussing the history of ophthalmology, but none that focus directly on just the most critical thinkers whose insights provided the foundation for the discipline. These men and women advanced knowledge about vision, diagnosis, disease mechanisms, and therapy through innovative thinking and perseverance against old ideas. Their stories are intriguing at a personal level and for showing the complexity of advancing medical science and, therefore, should be required reading for anyone practicing ophthalmology. Foundations of Ophthalmology includes giants such as Young (the nature of color and light), Braille (a practical reading system for the blind), Helmholtz (development of the ophthalmoscope), von Graefe (defining glaucoma), Curie (discovery of radiation and the basis of radiation therapy), Gonin (demonstration how to cure retinal detachment), Ridley (serendipity that led to intraocular lenses), and Kelman (development of phacoemulsification that revolutionized cataract surgery). .