Editorial: Vision Research
Entering the terms "vision" and "research" in the database of the National Library of Medicine "PubMed" displayed 105,896 publications on the topic on 16 February this year. The high number of scientific studies in the field of vision research shows the great interest in this field of research worldwide. In an very interesting publication on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the prestigious scientific journal "Vision Research” Professor Gerald Westheimer, born in Berlin in 1924, published an article on this topic in 2011.1 Westheimer left Germany with his parents at the age of 14 and moved to Sydney. There he first trained as an optometrist. At the age of 21, he received his Australian optometry licence. He later emigrated to the USA, where he became a professor of physiology at the University of California, Berkely School of Optometry in 1968. He is now internationally recognised as a distinguished researcher in neurobiology and is still associated as a professor with the Graduate School, Division of Neurobiology there.
In the context of the historical discussion of the topic of vision research, Westheimer describes in his 2011 publication the development of vision research, the people involved here as well as interesting research areas and results in the period from 1961 to 2011 and also names German researchers, such as the physiologist Franz Bruno Hofmann.2 The chapters Ocular Optics, The Retinex Theory, Systems Analysis, Stabilised Retinal Imagery and Metric of Visual Space in which Westheimer discusses the research projects and results relevant to these disciplines at a high level are very interesting.
In this OCL issue, authors from European universities with optometry programmes from Berlin, Glasgow, Cologne/Aston and Munich publish their research work on various scientific issues, thus also documenting scientific curiosity and competence. Research in the field of "vision science" is usually conducted at universities with optometry or ophthalmology departments or at non-university institutions. Clinical research can, of course, also take place in institutions of both eye care disciplines, as they generate an enormous amount of clinical experience and knowledge. Albert Einstein once wrote "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them”. Scientific curiosity and seriousness is more important than ever in today's world.
With this in mind, once again enjoy reading the latest OCL.
Literature References
[1] Westheimer, G. (2011). Vision Research 1961–2011: Retrospects and Prospects on the 50th Anniversary of Vision Research. Vision Res., 51, 603-612.
[2] Hofman, F. B. (1920). Die Lehre vom Raumsinn. In A. Graefe & T. Saemisch (Eds.). Handbuch der gesamten Augenheilkunde (Vol. 3:1, pp. 1-213). Berlin: Julius Springer.