William H. Dobelle

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William H. Dobelle (October 24, 1941 - October 5, 2004) was a biomedical researcher who developed advanced technologies that restored limited sight to blind patients.

At the age of 13 Dobelle designed improvements for the artificial hip for which he received patents. He started college the following year. He earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in biophysics at Johns Hopkins University where he worked on the development of medical tests. He finished his Ph.D. in neurophysiology at the University of Utah. He was associate director of the Institute of Biological Engineering at the University of Utah and director of the Division of Artificial Organs at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. He was a founding fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

He bought Avery Laboratories (now Avery Biomedical) in 1983, where he worked on artificial heart models and the artificial eye. Avery's portable breathing pacemaker has been used by patients with quadriplegia, central apnea, and other respiratory insufficiences. He was also CEO of the Dobelle Institute, which concentrates on artificial vision for the blind.

Dobelle's teams developed a brain implant for which films the visual field in front of the patient and transmits it to the brain's visual cortex, allowing the patient to see outlines. [1] The artificial eye is still a prototype and will not be considered by the Food and Drug Administration in the US for years, but the success of the research is promising. [2]. Dobelle was a nominee for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2003.

Dobelle left biomedical research for a short time to enter politics, working for the Maryland Republican party. He was also involved in exploration, heading two expeditions to South America, one of which was responsible for tracking the original route of Vasco Núñez de Balboa. Dobelle once worked on a whaling boat and as a Porsche mechanic.

Dobelle died in 2004 from a diabetes-related illness and is survived by his wife and three children.