Historical Vignette: Johann Friedrich Horner (1831–1886): Swiss Ophthalmologist, Scientific Contributor, and Accomplished Academician

Abstract

Johann Friedrich Horner was a Swiss ophthalmologist who was the founder of modern ophthalmology in his country and who established the first academic department of ophthalmology at the University of Zürich (Figure 1).1–3 He was widely published on a great number of medical topics, but is best known for his description of a triad of clinical findings that include unilateral ptosis, miosis, and anhydrosis, commonly referred to as Horner syndrome. Although Horner was not the first to describe these characteristics,4–7 he is recognized as the first to provide the detailed and scientifically supported description of the manifestations of this syndrome in humans and accurately interpreting the signs of sympathetic nerve damage.8,9