David Maurice 1922–2002

Accessible online at: www.karger.com/ore David Maurice died July 20, 2002 after more than 50 years of continued research in ocular physiology. Having served in RAF during World War II helping to develop countermeasures against German radar, he turned into ophthalmic research with Duke-Elder and Davson in London. In 1957 his theory for corneal transparency was published. Later on David moved to Stanford University in California and finally to Columbia University in New York City. During the years, David explored and published mainly in aspects related to vegetative physiology and pharmacokinetics, but also in several other fields, including eye movement, experimental pathology, pain, tissue mechanics, myopia, physiological optics, and retinal detachment. David’s last article is still in press. David was an extraordinary capacity, an extremely clear-minded scientist supplied with essential qualities: humour, self-irony, and a never-failing critical interest in research activities of young doctors and biologists. Anyone that needs mental stimulus and reflections over science in general should read David’s own career description, that was published a few years ago [1]. The abstract of the paper read: ‘The author has done pretty much what he wanted to do throughout his professional life. Little harm resulted. A few findings may survive.’ Research in vision and ophthalmology has lost one of the greatest stars ever.