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NRW State Prize
Gerhard Meyer-Schwickerath
Winner of the 1989 NRW State Prize
Gerhard Meyer-Schwickerath (1920 - 1992) discovers in 1946-47 that scarring on the retina can halt the progress of retinal detachment. This started him on the path towards developing a treatment for repairing damage to the back of the eyeball, known as photocoagulation.
In 1953, Meyer-Schwickerath writes his post-doctoral thesis on this aspect of eye damage. This qualifies him for an academic career but, instead, he becomes senior medical officer for the municipal teaching hospitals. It is on his initiative, working together with politicians like Paul Mikat and Kurt Biedenkopf, that these institutions are consolidated into a proper medical college. One of Meyer-Schwickerath's most famous patients is Leonard Bernstein.
In 1985, he retires as a researcher, ophthalmologist and professor, having garnered many laurels for his work in the field.
It is a special set of circumstances that leads Meyer-Schwickerath to ophthalmology. After graduating from school early in 1937 under special pre-war arrangements, he decides against following the family tradition and studying law. He cannot imagine being an arbiter of the law under the Nazi regime. So he opts for medicine instead.
By fortunate coincidence, an accident allows him to take this course. During the war, serving as a paramedic, he injures his knee and is exempted from going to the front. Shortly after the end of the war, he can complete his doctorate in Hamburg.
Speaking about the scientific genius known simply as "Gerd MS", Margret Schunk says, "Gerd MS had an unshakeable belief in his own ideas that made him equally dogged in pursuit of his goals."
"It was in 1946 and 1947 that he developed the idea for photocoagulation, his pioneering invention. The idea struck him one night when he was unable to sleep. Not wanting to forget it again, he rapidly scribbled down the word on a piece of paper."
"Even then, he already had a number ideas about the medical conditions to which the therapy could be applied, such as treatment for detached retinas and the removal of small tumours inside the eyeball. A vision had been born."
The complete tribute by Margret Schunk is printed in the prize-winners anthology edited by Gerd Ruge/ Jörg Schäfer (Hg.): Lebensbilder-Landesbilder. Geschichten aus und über Nordrhein-Westfalen, Verlag Aschendorff GmbH&Co. KG, Münster 2003 pp. 52 - 62.
Wolfgang Hippe
