Google Doodle honours life, legacy of Czech chemist Otto Wichterle on his 108th birth anniversary

With a Doodle on Wednesday, Google honours the life and legacy of Otto Wichterle, the Czech scientist who pioneered the soft contact lens. Today, October 27, is the 108th birthday of the man whose invention is utilized by an estimated 140 million people worldwide. In 1913, he was born in Prostjov, Czech Republic (then Austria-Hungary).
Wichterle is seen in today's Google Doodle clutching a single piece of contact lens between his fingertips, as light is reflected to form the Google logo, as a representation of eyesight.

Wichterle, who has always been interested in science, earned his PhD in organic chemistry from the Prague Institute of Chemical Technology in 1936. (ICT). During the 1950s, he lectured at his alma mater while developing an absorbent and transparent gel for ocular implants. Wichterle was forced out of the ICT by political upheaval, forcing him to continue perfecting his hydrogel development at home. In 1961, Wichterle, a glasses wearer, invented the first soft contact lenses with the use of a child's erector set, a bicycle light battery, a phonograph motor, and handcrafted glass tubing and moulds.

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Wichterle was chosen the first President of the Academy of the Czech Republic following the country's creation in 1993. He is the creator of several patents and a lifetime researcher. While Wichterle is best known as the developer of contact lenses, his ideas also lay the groundwork for cutting-edge medical technology such as "smart" biomaterials used to rebuild human connective tissues and bio-recognizable polymers that inspired a new standard for medication administration.

Previously, with a Doodle, Google commemorated Michiyo Tsujimura's 133rd birthday, a Japanese educator and scientist whose study centred on the components of green tea. Tsujimura was the first woman in Japan to receive a PhD in agriculture. 

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• Google Doodle
• chemist
• Otto Wichterle