William Feinbloom
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Dr. William Feinbloom (Brooklyn 1904-1985) was a pioneer in the field of vision rehabilitation.He created revolutionary specialized lens systems and gained international recognition for his optical designs. Among his low vision inventions: the "Camera Lens," the "Honeybee Lens," and the "New Horizons Lens." In addition, Dr. Feinbloom held the patent for the first contact lens.
Early years
Son of a self-educated optometrist, William Feinbloom helped out at his father's practice from age 3. After obtaining a degree at age 19 from the Columbia School of Optometry, Dr. Feinbloom went on to receive degrees in physics, math, biophysics and visual psychology.
While working at a medical clinic in 1932, Dr. Feinbloom took a personal interest in an elderly, vision-impaired patient for whom no available therapy was effective. Using an astronomer's telescope as a model, he developed a 3X telescopic lens small enough to mount in spectacle frames. The device restored the man's functional vision. The patient, a Catholic missionary, later described this "miracle" during a visit to Pope Pius XI, who in turn sent a special blessing to Dr. Feinbloom.
In 1934, Dr. William Feinbloom initiated a low vision practice in New York City. He used modern techniques without surgery to rehabilitate individuals with visual impairments. Dr. Feinbloom invented numerous low vision devices that are still used today. He actively designed specialized lens systems until the time of his death in 1985. Dr. Feinbloom emphasized what individuals with visual impairments could do, not what they could not do.
Feinbloom coined the name "BiOptic" and the abbreviation BTS in the 1950's, when he first designed the lens. He used the abbreviation BTS for "BiOptic telescopic system" Dr. Feinbloom defined a BiOptic as "a bi-visual optical system which mounts a miniature aperture telescope in the superior portion of a carrier lens enabling the user to rapidly change fixation from the carrier lens to the telescopic system."
Later life
In June 1978, Dr. Feinbloom donated his New York low vision practice to the Pennsylvania College of Optometry. His work continues today as the William Feinbloom Vision Rehabilitation Center
His innovations resulted from "clinical work and many failures," Dr. Feinbloom said in a 1983 interview. "Each failure taught me a new need and was nurtured in my unconscious until somehow it gave birth to a new development."
Even as he lay in a hospital bed suffering from a heart ailment in 1983, William Feinbloom, O.D., continued to seek new ways to help partially sighted patients. His colleague Richard Brilliant, O.D., recalls receiving calls at the time from the recuperating 79-year-old to discuss a new type of bioptric lens.
That kind of dedication characterized the career of the man widely regarded as the "father" of low vision optometry. Dr. Feinbloom died in 1985 at age 81.
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