Jacques Daviel

monument to Jacques Daviel in Bernay

Jacques Daviel (11 August 1696 – 30 September 1762[1]) was a French ophthalmologist credited with originating the first significant advance in cataract surgery since couching was invented in antiquity.[2] Daviel performed the first documented planned primary extracapsular cataract extraction on 18 September 1750 in Cologne on a clerical official named Gilles Noupres.[3]

Daviel earned his medical degree from the Medical School of Rouen, practiced in Marseille where he was affiliated with the medical school there, then restricted his practice to ophthalmology in 1728.[4] He was on the staff of Hospital d'Invalides and became oculist to Louis XV.[4]

In March 1756 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.[5] In 1759, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Daviel died of apoplexy in 1762 while on a trip to Geneva, Switzerland.[4]

References

1. Dolezalova V (Jan 2005). "Jacques Daviel, 11 August 1696--30 September 1762". Cesk Slov Oftalmol. 61 (1): 73–5. PMID 15782862. NOTE: Many other references give year of birth as 1693.
2. Leffler CT, Klebanov A (2020). "The history of cataract surgery: from couching to phacoemulsification". Annals of Translational Medicine. 8 (22): 1551. PMID 33313296.
3. Leffler CT, Hogewind BF (2023). "Jacques Daviel performed the first documented planned primary cataract extraction on Sep. 18, 1750". Eye. Dec. 6, 2023. PMID 38057561.
4. Mathew J, Mathen MM. "Clinical Practice Module: Quality Assurance in Cataract Surgery." Archived 2006-02-04 at the Wayback Machine Accessed September 23, 2006.
5. "Library and Archive Catalogue". Royal Society. Retrieved 26 November 2010.