Adolf Eugen Fick
Adolf Fick | |
|---|---|
 Adolf Eugen Fick (1829-1901) | |
| Born | 3 September 1829 |
| Nationality |  German |
| Alma mater | University of Marburg |
| Known for | Contact lens invention Fick's law of diffusion Fick principle Direct Fick method |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physiologist and biophysicist |
| Institutions | University of Zurich University of Würzburg |
| Doctoral advisor | Franz Ludwig Fick |
| Doctoral students | Johann Jakob Müller |
| Notes | |
He is the son of Franz Ludwig Fick. He is the nephew of Adolph Fick who invented tonometry. | |
Adolf Eugen Fick (3 September 1829, in Kassel, Germany – 21 August 1901, in Blankenberge, Flanders) was a German physiologist usually credited with the invention of contact lenses. He earned doctorate at Marburg in 1851.
In 1855 he introduced Fick's law of diffusion, which governs the diffusion of a gas across a fluid membrane. In 1870 he was the first to devise a technique for measuring cardiac output, called the Fick principle. In 1887 he constructed and fitted what was to be considered the first successful model of a contact lens: an afocal scleral contact shell made from heavy brown glass, which he tested first on rabbits, then on himself, and lastly on a small group of volunteers. His idea was advanced independently by several innovators in the years that followed.
Fick managed to double-publish his law of diffusion, as it applied equally to physiology and physics. His work led to the development of the direct Fick method for measuring cardiac output.
References
- The Virtual Laboratory: Fick, Adolf Eugen. URp accessed 5 February 2006.