Although he did not continue this work, it demonstrates his early interest in biomedical optics. He showed that the scattered signal oscillates as a function of scattering angle and that the oscillation length is related to particle diameter. 1įercher published his first paper on the biomedical applications of optics while he was still working for Carl Zeiss, 7 applying Mie theory to calculate light scattering in a simplified model cell. In 1975, he became a professor at the University of Essen, Germany from 1986 he was professor of medical physics, later chair of the Department of Medical Physics, at the Medical School of the University of Vienna. 6,8–10 Fercher’s BackgroundĪfter graduating with a degree in physics in 1968, Fercher worked at Carl Zeiss, Germany, on optical testing, computer holography and holographic interferometry. 4,5 Fercher’s visionary ideas laid the basis for the development of OCT and the first in vitro OCT images were published by German and United States researchers in 1991. He presented his results at the International Commission for Optics congress that year. The first two-dimensional picture of the fundus of a human eye in vivo was created by the late Adolf Friedrich Fercher in 1990, using white light interferometry. It was in the 1980s that imaging of biological tissue, especially of the human eye, started to be investigated in parallel by several groups worldwide. In a similar way to ultrasound, OCT measures the ‘time of flight’ distribution of light that is reflected from tissue and is based on low-coherence interferometry, typically using near-infrared light because the relatively long wavelength allows it to penetrate the scattering medium. It is essential for diagnosing blinding diseases such as macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy at early, treatable stages before irreversible loss of vision occurs. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is today regarded as a standard diagnostic technique in various ophthalmology sub-disciplines.