Karl Koller

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Karl Koller (1857-1944} was an Austrian ophthalmologist who began his medical career as a surgeon at the Vienna General Hospital, and was a colleague of Sigmund Freud.

Koller is famous for introducing cocaine as a local anaesthetic for eye surgery. Prior to this discovery, he had tested solutions such as chloral hydrate and morphine as anaesthetics in the eyes of laboratory animals without success. Freud was fully aware of the pain-killing properties of cocaine, but Koller recognized its tissue-numbing capabilities, and in 1884 demonstrated its potential as a local anaesthetic to the medical community. Koller's findings were considered a medical breakthrough at the time, because of the previous difficulty of performing eye surgery. This is because the involuntary reflex motions of the eye to respond to the slightest stimuli. Soon after, cocaine was also used as a local anaesthetic in other medical fields such as dentistry. In the 20th century, other agents such as Xylocaine have replaced cocaine as a local anaesthetic.

In 1888, Karl Kohler moved to the United States and practiced ophthalmology in New York. He has received many distinctions in his career, including being honored by the American Ophthalmological Society as the first recipient of the "Lucien Howe Medal" in 1922. This award is given to physicians in recognition of outstanding achievements in ophthalmology. In 1930 he was also honored by the Medical Association of Vienna. Koller was reputedly nicknamed "Coca Koller" for his association with the drug.