Today's Google doodle celebrates the life and legacy of Otto Wichterle, a Czech chemist who invented the soft contact lens, on his 108th birrthday. Wichterle was born on this day in 1913 in Prostejov, the Czech Republic (then, Austria-Hungary).
As a lover of science from his youth, Wichterle went on to earn his doctorate in organic chemistry in 1936 from the Prague Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT). He taught as a professor at his alma mater during the 1950s while developing an absorbent and transparent gel for eye implants.
While Wichterle is most well-known as the inventor of contact lenses, his innovations also laid the foundation for state-of-the-art medical technologies such as "smart" biomaterials, which are used to restore human connective tissues, and bio-recognizable polymers, which have inspired a new standard for drug administration.
Happy birthday, Otto Wichterle - thanks for helping the world see eye to eye.
