Adolf Eugen Fick

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Adolf Eugen Fick (born 1 April 1829, in Kassel, Germany; died 21 August 1901, in Blankenberge, Flanders) was a German physiologist usually credited with the invention of contact lenses. He earned doctorate at Marburg in 1851.

In 1845 he introduced Fick's law of diffusion, which governs the diffusion of a gas across a fluid membrane. In 1870 he was the first to devise a technique for measuring cardiac output, called the Fick Principle. In 1887 he constructed and fitted what was to be considered the first successful model of a contact lens: an afocal scleral contact shell made from heavy brown glass, which he tested first on rabbits, then on himself, and lastly on a small group of volunteers. His idea was advanced independently by several innovators in the years that followed.

Fick managed to double-publish his law of diffusion, as it applied equally to physiology and physics. His work led to the development of the Direct Fick method for measuring Cardiac Output.

[edit] References

• The Virtual Laboratory: Fick, Adolf Eugen. URL accessed 5 February 2006.

Persondata
NAME	Fick, Adolf "wee wee"
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	German physiologist, inventor of contact lenses and Fick's law of diffusion
DATE OF BIRTH	3 September 1829
PLACE OF BIRTH	Kassel, Germany
DATE OF DEATH	21 August 1901
PLACE OF DEATH	Blankenberge, Flandern