Who was Charles Kelman?

Very often in everyday life, we take things and facts, like using electricity, computers, TVs, phones, antibiotics, and other scientific achievements, so to say, for granted.

Contemporary cataract surgery with implanting an intraocular lens is the most performed surgery on the human body in the world and it has an incredibly high success rate.
There are 3,8 million cataract surgeries in the world every year.
The procedure is done in a way that, during the surgery, the special probe is inserted in the eye with the help of the external device that enables removal of the blurred lens with vibrating ultrasound, and it’s called phacoemulsification.

The person who invented this amazing device in 1966. is Charles Kelman, who was born 90 years ago in New York, and whose birthday we celebrate around these days. There is a situation today that many people who work daily in operating rooms and with probes know very little or nothing about it.

Charles Kelman, besides the fact he was an excellent ophthalmologist, eye surgeon, and innovator, was a distinctive and versatile person.
He studied Medicines in Geneva, Switzerland, specialized ophthalmology at the prestigious Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. In his free time, he was a musician, focused on jazz. He participated in musical shows and produced several Broadway musicals. He performed in the famous Carnegie Hall in New York as a jazzer.

Learning history and getting to know important historical figures and their contributions to humanity, we enrich ourselves and create cognition that the world and knowledge weren’t created yesterday and that it all goes without saying. By remembering geniuses such as Charles Kelman and mentioning their work, we create a positive atmosphere, motivation to make us more curious, innovative, creative, and better people.