Hermann von helmholtz nerve impulse

Contributed by Jon Golliher, MS4

In 1851, Hermann von Helmholtz revolutionized the field of ophthalmology by publishing “Description of an ophthalmoscope for examining the retina in the living eye.”[9] His publication described the means of properly illuminating and refracting light to best focus the retinal structures using a candle and microscope glass plates.[9] This rudimentary design received hundreds of alterations and optimizations by several ophthalmologists by the time of von Helmholtz's death in 1894.[6]

In addition to his invention of the ophthalmoscope, von Helmholtz established himself as one of the greatest scientists of the era.

He was a physicist and a physician who made remarkable contributions in a plethora of fields. In physiology and psychology, he is known for mathematics of the eye, theories of vision, ideas of visual perception of space, color vision research, the sensation of tone, perception of sound, and physiology of perception.[2] In