Otto Wichterle (; 27 October 1913 – 18 August 1998) was a Czech chemist, best known for his invention of modern soft contact lenses.
Wichterle was the author or co-author of approximately 180 patents and over 200 publications. The studies and independent books covered various aspects of organic, inorganic and macromolecular chemistry, polymer science, and biomedical materials. He held a higher number of patents for organic synthesis, polymerization, fibres, the synthesis and shaping of biomedical materials, production methods and measuring devices related to biomedical products. This was typical of his attitude to scientific research, which, he considered, ought to serve society and its requirements by any means possible, without distinction as to "pure" and "applied" science.
Schooling and chemistry background
Wichterle's father, Karel, was co-owner of a successful farm-machine factory and small car plant, that they patented in 1953.
Wichterle thought pHEMA might be a suitable material for contact lenses and gained his first patent for soft contact lenses. In 1954 this material was first used as an orbital implant. In 1957 Wichterle produced around 100 soft lenses from closed polystyrene molds but the edges split and tore as the lenses were removed. In addition, they required hand finishing. He was determined to find a better way.
Unfortunately, Wichterle and other prominent teachers had to leave the Institute of Chemical Technology after a political purge staged by its Communist leadership in 1958.
Later recognition and Czechoslovakia reform
Wichterle came to be well-known beyond the frontiers of his country not only through his achievements but also because of his activities in international organizations, chief among which was the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). He took part in the preparations for its Prague symposia in 1957 and 1965, which were much applauded by participants; he had a hand in the inauguration of its fifth, macromolecular, division, of which he was to become the first president, and he gained further credit by combining within it what were for normal administrative purposes the separate fields of pure and applied chemistry.
In 1970, Wichterle was expelled again from his position in the institute, this time for signing "The Two Thousand Words"—a manifesto asking for the continuation of the democratization process begun in 1968 during the Prague Spring. Punishment by the regime included removing him from his executive positions and making his research more and more difficult mainly by cutting off contacts from abroad and limiting his teaching opportunities. Full recognition did not come until the Velvet Revolution in 1989. In 1990, he was made president of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences till the dissolution of Czechoslovakia and was the honorary president of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic after that.
Honors and achievements
Wichterle was a member of a number of foreign academies of science, he received many awards and honorary doctorates from several universities.
- In 1991 Otto Wichterle was awarded honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Illinois at Chicago and from the Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, NY.
- The asteroid number 3899 was named after Wichterle in 1993.
- A prestigious secondary school in Ostrava (in the district of Poruba) in the Czech Republic was named after him on 1 September 2006.
- On 27 October 2021, Google celebrated Wichterle's 108th birth anniversary with a doodle on its homepage.
Publications
- Allgemeine organische Chemie, Berlin : Akademie-Verlag, 1955, 2nd ext. ed. 1959