Gullstrand Lecture, Stockholm 1992; Mr Harold Ridley

Harold Ridley is the father of modern cataract and lens implant surgery. Like many pioneers before him, his efforts were shunned and belittled in the beginning. Slowly but surely the international ophthalmic community began to respond to the note which Ridley first struck in a human eye in 1949. Happily, Mr Ridley and his wife Elisabeth have lived to see the true fulfilment of his ideas and innovations. Our sophisticated operations of today embody his principles, refined only by the dramatic advances offered by modern technology. The Royal Society has elected Mr Ridley a Fellow, the highest honour a scientist can be offered in Britain. He has been honoured by the College of Ophthalmologists who elected him an honorary fellow. Numerous awards have been made worldwide and the most distinguished lecture at the annual scientific symposium of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons is 'The Ridley Lecture'. We are happy to publish the Gullstrand Lecture, 1992 with an introduction by Professor Bo Philipson of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Dr Kensaku Miyake, one of Japan's most distinguished international scientific ophthalmologists has requested permission to reproduce the following in a Japanese language ophthalmic journal because 'I think it would be very meaningful especially for our young ophthalmologists to learn the hardships Mr Ridley had to overcome before making this great achievement that we all now take for granted'. Mr Harold Ridley is now 86 (seen here at Stonehenge close to his home in 1991) where he enjoys contented retirement with the especial benefit of pseudophakia. The modern generation of ophthalmic surgeons and their patients are forever grateful to Mr Ridley.