Gonin, Jules

SUBJECT AREA: Medical technology

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b. 10 August 1870 Vaud, Switzerland

d. 11 June 1935 Lausanne, Switzerland

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Swiss ophthalmic surgeon, originator of the therapy of retinal detachment with cautery.

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After graduating form the University of Berne in 1894, Gonin was appointed Assistant to Marc Dufour, Professor of Ophthalmology at the Hôpital de l'Asile des Aveugles, Lausanne. At the International Congress of Ophthalmology at Lucerne in 1904, the general opinion was expressed that the condition of retinal detachment was untreatable. Gonin spent the following decade studying the condition, and by 1920 he was able to inform the French Ophthalmological Society that he had been able to cure a number of cases by the use of localized cautery. In the same year Gonin succeeded to the chair in Lausanne, which became a centre for the treatment of retinal detachment; despite initial scepticism, by 1929 a convincing series of cases led to international acceptance and the further development of the technique with the use of diathermy. On his death he left a substantial bequest to the blind of Lausanne whom he had not been able to cure. The Gonin Medal is awarded quadrennially to the outstanding international figure in ophthalmology.

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Principal Honours and Distinctions

Marcel Benoist Prize 1928. Mackenzie Medal 1933. Von Graefe Medal 1936.

Bibliography

1918, The Anatomical Causes of Detachment of the Retina.

1929, "Detachment of the retina", Proceedings of the International Congress of- Ophthalmology, Amsterdam.

Further Reading

S.Duke-Elder, 1960–70, System of Ophthalmology, London.

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