Glaucoma: macrocosm to microcosm the Friedenwald lecture.

J Stein Friedenwald, the son and grandson of ophthalmologists, was born in Baltimore in 1897. He attended Johns Hopkins Medical School, graduating in 1920. After medical internship, he spent 1 year studying ophthalmic pathology with Fredrich Verhoeff (Harvard), had a 1-year preceptorship with George de Schweinitz (Philadelphia), and then began practice without further training. He seemed not to need it. He was in charge of “Ophthalmic Pathology,. . .and directed the lion’s share of research activities of the Wilmer Institute” from 1923 to his death in 1955. He excelled at the correlation of clinical and pathologic findings, as continued by A. Edward Maumenee and W. Richard Green at Wilmer after him. He was described as a “many faceted genius,” accomplished in physics, mathematics, chemistry, and ophthalmology. In his 1949 Proctor Lecture, he summarized evidence that the formation of aqueous humor was an energy-dependent, enzymedriven process. These ideas led to the development of carbonic anhydrase inhibitors for glaucoma treatment. He placed the calibration of the Schiotz tonometer on an experimental, scientific footing and studied “ocular rigidity”—an area engaging the glaucoma field at present in the interaction between cornea and tonometry. He wrote on the relation between art and vision mechanisms and debated legal theory with his friend, Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter. Norman Ashton wrote of Jonas: “His intellectual grasp of scientific problems and his remarkable knowledge of many widely different fields of art and learning made him a quite exceptional person by any standards.” He was instrumental in the development of Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center in Israel, visiting in 1936 and 1945 and lecturing in Hebrew. Robert Moses, his student and colleague, wrote: “He applied physics in his studies on tonometry, chemistry to his work on aqueous secretion. . . , and optics in his design of an advanced ophthalmoscope. . . . If a given problem needed knowledge he did not possess, he simply got some recent books on the subject, sat down and studied.” Wilmer Chairperson Alan C. Woods stated: “When the pathogenesis of chronic glaucoma is finally resolved and understood, I am confident that the solution will rest largely on the foundations laid down by Jonas Friedenwald.” During his 32 years of scientific work, he “devoted himself tirelessly to a large practice. He was never too busy or too tired to give his skill, his attention and his time to any needy or ill patient.” Thus, Jonas Friedenwald was the epitome of an ophthalmic clinician scientist. He is a role model to whom all of us can aspire. As I walk the halls of Wilmer, caring for glaucoma patients and chasing the mysteries of this disease, I have often felt the presence of this gentleman giant whose portrait gazes at us from the wall of the Friedenwald Library. I could not hope for a greater honor than to receive an award in his name.