One day in 1911, in a Swedish auditorium, a man with gray temples was giving a speech, and people looked at him with respect. A Nobel Prize ceremony was being held here, and the man who was speaking was the winner of this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. He is Gerstrand, who has made great contributions in the field of ophthalmology.
In fact, long before Gerstrand won the Nobel Prize, his name had already spread throughout Europe.
Gerstrand was born in 1862 in Landskrona, Sweden. His father was an accomplished physician who treated people in the slums for the cost of medicines and a modest consultation fee. In Landskrona, whenever Gerstrand's father was mentioned, people would give him a thumbs up and say, "That's a real good man!" Lord Marmont of Landskrona, however, did not think so. As most of the factories in the Landskrona place were owned by the Lord, the Lord was as it were the master of the place. He simply concluded that Gerstrand's father had not attended medical school and that the treatment would not be scientific. When Landskroner founded the first eye hospital, people recommended Gerstrand's father, but the Lord exerted pressure. The Lord's obstacles prevented the hospital from accepting him, but he continued to see patients and organize his ancestral medical books. Gerstrand grew up honoring his father. Lord Marmont's behavior stung him. He secretly resolved to honor his father.
Gilstrand studied hard, and after graduating from high school, he was admitted to the medical school of the famous Uppsala University in Sweden. In medical school, Gerstrand took ophthalmology. As a result of studying hard, Gerstrand was appreciated by the professor. In 1884, Gerstrand graduated with honors.
When Gerstrand returned to Landskrona, Lord Marmont, aware of his academic success, asked him to become a doctor in his own hospital, but Gerstrand flatly refused, and he returned to his father. Knowing that his ancestral medical books and his father's years of practice had accumulated a valuable medical treasure, he resolved to systematize it. Soon, however, Gerstrand was surprised to find that he was not yet able to take up this task. He felt the value of this wealth and at the same time his own inadequacy. He decided to go to Austria, where the best medical school in Europe was located. With the support of his father and wife, Gerstrand went to Vienna and specialized in physiological optics. The four years of study were soon over, and after declining numerous offers from the big hospitals, Gerstrand returned to his father's eye clinic, treating people in the slums. When his father died a few years later, he officially took over the clinic.
In his medical practice, Gerstrand further realized that the eye is the most delicate and complex sense organ. Physiological optometrists at the time, the causes of myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism were not clear, nor did they know how to prevent and treat them. Gerstrand decided to tackle this challenge.
Gelstrand studied the astigmatism of the cornea of the eye and found that people with astigmatism could either see only in a vertical orientation and not in a horizontal one, or vice versa. After careful study and physical analysis, he found that this is due to the cornea of the eye is not normal development, cornea has thick and thin caused. After figuring out the reason, he managed to utilize columnar lenses to balance the refractive properties of the cornea and make up for the uneven thickness of the cornea, thus correcting the vision of patients with astigmatism.
In 1891, when Gerstrand was buried in his research, Lord Marmont came to his door to ask for help. It turned out that Marmont's daughter had a serious eye disease, and all the specialists were unable to cure her. When people recommended Gerstrand, Lord Marmont hesitated, he was afraid that Gerstrand because of his father's reasons to hate him. However, his daughter's eye disease is getting worse day by day, he had no choice but to ask Gerstrand. After diagnosing the patient, Gerstrand decided to surgically remove the cloudiness from the corners of her eyes. At that time, open-heart surgery to remove cloudiness was a difficult operation, but Gerstrand was successful. The Lord's family was overwhelmed with gratitude. They did not realize that Gerstrand was not only a skilled doctor, but also a man of character as valuable as gold. The success of the operation was a sensation in Landskrona. Soon afterward, the Uppsala University Medical School hired Gerstrand as a professor of ophthalmology at the institution for his research in refractive ophthalmology. Gerstrand accepted the offer.
The favorable conditions at the college gave Gerstrand a good basis for his research, and in 1892 a paper by Gerstrand on strabismus was published. The paper described the methods of examination and diagnosis of strabismus eye disease, which enabled doctors to have a new basis for clinical application.
Soon afterward, he made a careful and fruitful study of the mechanism of myopic accommodation. He discovered that when the eye looks at a near object, it must adjust the thickness of the crystal in order to form a clear image on the retina.
In the spring of 1911, the slit lamp developed by Gerstrand was introduced. This lamp synthesizes a lot of optical knowledge, with which changes inside the eye can be directly observed, giving doctors a convenient diagnosis and treatment of patients. The slit lamp is still one of the most important medical devices used by ophthalmologists today.
As a result of Gerstrand's accomplishments, honors poured in like snowflakes. He was named director of the eye clinic in the capital, Stockholm, and was known as "the guardian of the windows of the soul. In his hometown, a monument was erected in his honor, calling him the Sage of Landskrona.
In the fall of 1911, Gerstrand was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for his outstanding achievements in refraction of the eye. Gerstrand used the prize money to build an ophthalmic medical research center in his hometown to serve the quality of life of the people.
Grundstedt's noble medical ethics set an example for medical workers, and in 1930, the respected old man died in Stockholm.