1

1

1

1

1

1

1

2

2

2

TltcerksHLap

petaeuswYrptdwficcm

V

3. Hirakata A, Hida T. Vitrectomy for myopic posterior reti-noschisis or foveal detachment. Jpn J Ophthalmol 2006;50:53–61.

4. Wolf S, Schnurbusch U, Wiedemann P, et al. Peeling of thebasal membrane in the human retina. Ophthalmology 2004;111:238–243.

5. Iriyama A, Uchida S, Yanagi Y, et al. Effects of indocyaninegreen on retinal ganglion cells. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci2004;45:943–947.

6. Polito A, Lanzetta P, Del Borrello M, Bandello F. Sponta-neous resolution of a shallow detachment of the macula in ahighly myopic eye. Am J Ophthalmol 2003;135:546–547.

7. Ichibe M, Baba E, Funaki S, Yoshizawa T, Abe H. Retino-schisis in a highly myopic eye without vision impairment.Retina 2004;24:331–333.

AJO History of OThomas You

homas Young (1773-1829) was a child prodigy andpolymath, proficient in Latin and Greek by age 16and familiar with ten other languages during his

ife. He became a physician in 1803, but his real contribu-ions were in physics and in his ability to see what othersould not. He has been described as the last man to knowverything.1 Virtually his own literature search service, heeportedly reviewed 20,000 articles and books, nearly allnown western literature at the time, before writing theecond volume of his insightful book, Natural Philosophy.1

e also authored a text entitled An Introduction to Medicaiterature, Including a System of Practical Nosology in 1813lthough he was never recognized by his peers as a greathysician.Young refuted Newton’s corpuscular theory of light by

roving the wave theory of light with his double-slitxperiment among other work. Like many scientific break-hroughs of the time, his ideas were not recognized orccepted for decades after his presentations. He thenxplained the theory of Newton’s rings, which enables us tonderstand the interference patterns of a soap bubble or oillick and their range of beautiful rainbow-like colors andith that constructive and destructive interference of lightoung’s work in physics included the invention of the

ipple tank which laid the groundwork for Maxwell torovide the mathematical theory of electromagnetism andhen, one hundred years later, for Einstein to explain theuality of light. With his polyglot mastery of language, heorked on the translation of the Rosetta Stone and was therst to publish the correct understanding of this ancienthronicle. He would have been recognized as its agent ofonversion had not Champollion preceded him by usinguch of Young’s own work.

His contributions to ophthalmology were possible be- C

SCLERAL BUCKLING WITHOL. 142, NO. 3

8. Ando F. Use of a special macular explant in surgery forretinal detachment with macular hole. Jpn J Ophthalmol1980;24:29–34.

9. Ponozzo G, Mercanti A. Optical coherence tomographyfindings in myopic traction maculopathy. Arch Ophthalmol2004;122:1455–1460.

0. Ikuno Y, Gomi F, Tano Y. Potent retinal arteriolar tractionas a possible cause of myopic foveoschisis. Am J Ophthalmol2005;139:462–467.

1. Michels RG, Thompson JT, Rice TA, Freund D. Effect ofscleral buckling on vector forces caused epiretinal mem-branes. Am J Ophthalmol 1986;102:449–451.

2. Yoshida T, Ohno-Matsui K, Yasuzumi K, et al. Myopicchoroidal neovascularization: a 10-year follow-up. Ophthal-mology 2003;110:1297–1305.

halmology Series1773-1829)

ause of his prescient thought and the clever, simplexperiments in the understanding of accommodation. Byeductive reasoning and experimentation he proved thatccommodation was not accomplished by a change in globeiameter. He measured the diameter of his own eye in situy using a caliper-like device applied to the Anterior-osterior diameter of his eye during accommodation relyingpon the entopic phenomena of his eye to recognize whene calipers had reached a point on his sclera external to hisvea. Young then proved that the cornea did not partici-

ate in accommodation by inventing “glasses” to be wornnderwater. He presented the scientific proof that the lensas solely responsible for accommodation in a paper pre-nted at the Royal Society in London. By additional

eductive reasoning, he determined his own refractive erroras mildly myopic and astigmatic and therefore was the first

document astigmatism, although he did not name theondition.In a beginning paragraph of a Bakerian lecture before theoyal Society of London in 1802, Thomas Young was therst to provide a detailed theory of the trichromacy ofision, with three different cones required to achieve ourvel of color vision. Helmholtz and Maxwell proposed theme theory 50 years later although it was not proven for

nother 100 years.It is poignant that he was not truly appreciated by his

eers and did not fit into his contemporary society; he wasmply ahead of his era.

1. Robinson, A: The Last Man Who Knew Everything.ew York Pi Press, 2005.

Contributed by Ivan R Schwab, MD, from Sacramento,

phtng (

l,

.

,

cedadbPuthfopuwsedwtoc

Rfivlesaa

psi

N

A.

MACULAR PLOMBE 487