title: Karl Otto Himmler, manufacturer of the first contact lens.
abstract: In 1889 August Müller (1864-1949) reported the correction of his own high myopia with a ground scleral contact lens that had been manufactured in Berlin two years earlier. This paper provides the first conclusive identification, based upon primary sources, of the manufacturer of these lenses. They were made by an optical engineer, Karl Otto Himmler (1841-1903), whose firm enjoyed, until the outbreak of World War II, an international reputation for the manufacture of microscopes and their accessories.
authors.affiliation: rpearson@contacts.fsnet.co.uk
authors.forename: Richard M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Pearson
mesh_terms: D003261:Contact Lenses / Q000266:history*; D005858:Germany; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D009216:Myopia / Q000266:history / Q000628:therapy; D055095:Optics and Photonics / Q000266:history*