SURVEY OF OPHTHALMOLOGY VOLUME 37. NUMBER 2.

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1992

REMEMBRANCES OF THINGS PAST

FREDERICK C. BLODI AND BARRIE JAY, EDITORS

Remembrance of Hans Goldmann, 1899-l 991

FRANZ FANKHAUSER, M.D.

C’ni~wrsitiit Bern, Bun, Switwlctnd

Abstract. Professor Hans Goldmann died in Bern on November 19th, 1991 at the age of92
years. His outstanding intellectual capacity was discovered at an early age and demonstrat-
ed throughout his life. He was appointed as teaching assistant of the famous A. Cermak von
Seysenegg, Chairman of the Institute of Physiology of the German Charles University in
Prague. During his stay at the University of Prague, he was influenced by the famous
people of his time, such as Einstein (physicist), hlach (physicist and psychophysicist).
Lorenz (behavioral scientist), Popper (philosopher), S&lick (physicist and philosopher).
Hering (physiologist), and others. Goldmann absorbed the essence of these disciplines to ;I
very large extent. This, together with his remarkable intellect, enabled him to produce
outstanding research work within a large spectrum ofsciences more or less directly related
to ophthalmology. Goldmann became known in particular for his exceptional and funda-
mental work on perimetry and glaucoma and he managed to cast his basic insight into
practical, easy-to-operate, high-precision diagnostic instruments which, several decades
after their invention, are still used by every ophthalmologist. He will enter history as OIW of
the very great pioneers in ophthalmology. (SUIT Ophthalmol 37:137-142. 1992)

Key words. (ioldmann, Hans l history l perimerer

Hans Goldmann was born in 1899 in Komo- a highly amused audience.

tau, Bohemia, a town near Prague in the formel
Austro-Hungarian monarchy, which became
part of Czechoslovakia after the first world war.
He was first educated at a Jesuit school where the
teachers became aware of his mental prowess fo1
mathematics and the natural sciences, but also
fi)r philosophy. His exceptional memory became
apparent at that time. His older brother, already
at the university studying law, taught him the
beginning of Vergil’s Ilind in Greek and the ca-
puchin’s sermon in Schiller’s Wallenstein (Part 1:
Wallmstein’.~ Heerlager), which he then repeated,
without having any idea of what it meant, before
He was attracted by astronomy and would
have loved to become an astrophysicist, but was
persuaded by his parents “to do something prac-
tical,” so, for lack of anything better, he decided
to become an ophthalmologist. After high school,
he became a student at the medical faculty of the
German Charles University in Prague, which was
at that time one of the world’s leading centers of
sciences. The director of the Institute of Physiol-
ogy, the reputed A. Cermak von Seysenegg, soon
discovered Goldmann’s talents and appointed
him a teaching assistant, providing him with a
room at his institute and also helping him finan-
138 Surv Ophthalmol 37 (2) September-October 1992 FANKHAUSER

Fig. 1. Hans Goldmann, as a young professor. Fig. 2. Hans Goldmann, shortly after his retirement in
1968.

cially. This was essential for Goldmann, because of interest with a number of pioneers in ophthal-
his father had lost most of his money buying war mology. Anton Philip Elschnig was chairman of
bonds in WWl and had difficulty supporting his the Department of Ophthalmology of the Ger-
son. Because of his obligations at the institute, he man University in Prague. He met E. Fuchs in
missed most lectures and courses at the medical Vienna and Th. Axenfeld in Freiburg im Breis-
school, but caught up by reading at night. He gau. In 1923, Goldmann became an assistant at
concluded his studies successfully and on time. the Department of Ophthalmology of the Uni-
University professors at that time used to sit versity of Bern, chaired by August Siegrist whose
together with their students and assistants in Vi- successor he became in 1935. One year later he
enna-style coffeehouses in the late afternoon and married Erna Renfer and became a Swiss citizen.
during the evening, discussing the latest ad- At the age of 36, he was the youngest chairman of
vances and revelations of science. During this a Swiss university eye clinic. To become profes-
time Goldmann met some of the great men, such sor and chairman at that early age was indeed
as Philip Frank, professor of theoretical physics, very exceptional, because - with few exceptions
Moritz Schlick, one of the leading authorities in - in order to be accepted as a university chair-
philosophy of science and Karl Popper, whose man, many years of exhaustive labor and service
strength was the theory of cognition. He also met (and, as today, good connections) were neces-
Konrad Lorenz, the father ofbehavioral sciences sary.
and was fascinated by his way of thinking. Both I joined Goldmann as an assistant in 1954 and
Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity (special the- served him later as an 0berarz.t and Privatdozent
ory 1905, general theory 1917) and Friedrich with one interruption until his retirement in
Nietzsche’s work (Also Spmch Zaruthustru) were 1968. Figs. 1 and 2 show him as a young tnan and
discussed. He also had a chance to discuss topics after his retirement. We remained close friends
REMEMBRANCE OF HANS GOLDMANN, 1899-1991
Intraocular pressure
and haemodynamics
of optic nerve head
Philosophical writings
relating to the philosophy, spirit, power,
limits and reasoning in medicine
and in science
Fig. 3. A diagrammatic summary of some of Hans Goldmann’s
(Sketch of Hans Goldmann was drawn in 1937 by a medical student. Loaned
until his death on November 19, 1991. During
his last years he became more and more disabled,
but his intellect remained as sharp as ever. He is
survived by his wife. He characterized her once,
according to Lao-tse’s dictum, “as the best ruler
whose existence you hardly realize.”
When I started with Goldmann, he impressed
me as someone who apparently knew just every-
thing, starting from ancient history and philo-
sophy to the most recent advances in the natu-
ral sciences. At that time, he was intensely
engaged with psychophysical problems. He had
invented sometime earlier his well-known pe-
rimeter and adaptometer. First I had to do re-
search on night vision, then I had to solve prob-
lems related to perimetry. In particular, I had to
analyze questions of spatial summation, i.e., ex-
plore the validity of the classical summation laws
of Kicco, Piper and others for perimetry. These
experiences, I think, enabled me later to design
an automated perimeter (Octopus system). It
139
I Stiles-
Crawford-effect I
Clinical research,
such as diabetic
and hypertensive
retinopathy;
Retinopathy of
prematurity
Diverse undertakings
pertaining to ophthalmology,
such as the vision
in animals
most significant contributions to ophthalmology.
courtesv of Dr. Rudolf Witmer.)
was not always easy to live with Goldmann due to
his practice of producing new ideas at high fre-
quency. Practically every morning he arrived
with a fascinating new idea and, at the same time,
proposed an experimental approach to solve the
problem. Before leaving at night, together with
proposing new projects, he regularly asked me
whether I had done what he had proposed in the
morning. I never could find out whether he was
kidding or whether he really thought that one
could work at such high speed. His mental supe-
riority, the feeling during discussions with him
“to fall literally into pieces and to be crushed,”
often had a destructive effect. As a result of these
“private lessons,” one felt that the gradient of the
learning curve for all possible fields of ophthal-
mology was extremely steep.
Goldmann’s universality was overwhehning.
In Fig. 3, I have tried to demonstrate a synopsis
of his mental activities. By 1923 in Bern, he was
intrigued by the pathogenesis of cataract in gen-
140 Surv Ophthalmol 37 (2) September-October 1992 FANKHAUSER

eral, but in particular by the cause of the glass- lamp, originally invented by Gullstrand in
blower cataract. Here he clashed with Alfred 1912 in two essential steps in 1933 (Eine neue
Vogt, chief of the University Eye Clinic in Zurich, Spaltlampe) and in 1939 (“An Improved Slit-
who maintained that the glassblower cataract lamp Apparatus”). He constructed both a
was the result of infrared energy being absorbed practical and a high performance instrument.
directly by the lens, while Goldmann thought In 1940, he published a basic paper on slit-
that it was caused by heat transferred to the lens lamp photography and photometry and fluo-
from infrared energy absorbed by the iris. A rometry (Spaltlampenphotographie und photometric
number of ingenious experiments appeared to and Ein neues Spaltlampenfluorometer). At the an-
confirm Goldmann’s concept, and his hypothesis nual meeting of the French Ophthalmological
was accepted at that time (1930). Only much lat- Society in 1954, he presented for the first time
er, in 1980, were Wolbarsht and others able to his newly invented applanation tonometer
show that both mechanisms, claimed by Vogt which he improved in 1955 and 1956 (Un nou-
and Goldmann, depending on the experimental veau tonombtre a applanation). After intense stud-
conditions, could explain the pathogenesis of the ies of the laws of Imbert and Fick, which were
glassblower cataract. basic to the development of applanation tono-
When I joined Goldmann, he also had per- metry, he arrived at the conclusion, ‘Bei Ein-
formed, together with Rudolf Witmer, basic re- haltung eines Applanationsdurchmessers von 3.06 mm
search on immunological problems, in particu- und kurzfristiger Messung heben sich die Krafte, her-
lar, uveitis. He also had carried out a kinetic vorgerufen durch Verformung der Hornhaut als Mem-
analysis of ocular fluorometric experiments and bran mit endlicher Dicke sowie Eigenstetfigkeit, und
had determined in 1950 for the first time the die Kapillarkrafte, hervorgerufen durch die benet-
aqueous flow in human eyes, finding it of the zende Fliissigkeit auf der Augenoberjlache, gerade auf.
order of 2.5 l.J/min-‘. This value was later con- Der Einfluss der Rigiditat wird dabei vernachlassigbar
firmed by others. His experiments were sim- Klein” (“With an applanation diameter of 3.06
ple and he performed his computations with mm and brief measurements, the forces pro-
the help of a slide rule. Looking back, it ap- duced by the deformation of the cornea as a
pears to me that the lack of computer assis- membrane of definite thickness and rigidity
tance had definite advantages, because it and those produced by the capillary adhesion
forced the research worker to push his brain to of the whetting fluid on the ocular surface will
the limits of its performance. Goldmann was just neutralize each other. Ocular rigidity be-
among the first to study fluid dynamics in the comes negligible”).
eye and had localized the site of increased Biomicroscopy of the posterior segment of
resistance to outflow at the inner wall of the eye had come a long way, starting with the
Schlemm’s canal. A number of important pa- earliest attempts by Gullstrand (191 l), Wolff
pers appeared in the late ’40s and the early (1912), Schieck (1912), Koeppe (1918), Mees-
’50s. Among many others, two should be men- mann (192 l), Gallemaerts and Kleefeld
tioned: Der Druck im Schlemm’schen Kanal bei nor- (1922), Lemoine and Valois (1923), Lopez La-
malen Druck und bei Glaucoma chronicum simplex carrere (1925), Zamenhof (1930), Lindner
and Zur Frage des S&es der Widerstandserhohung (1936) et al. All these examination methods
beim einfachen Glaukom (“The Pressure in were demanding exercises which could only
Schlemm’s Canal in Eyes with Normal Pres- be carried out at a clinic. For instance, the
sure and in Open Angle Glaucoma,” and “The large and heavy Koeppe lens was complicated
Site of Increased Outflow Resistance in Open in its application and unpleasant for the pa-
Angle Glaucoma”). He had already presented tient. Goldmann managed the essential break-
in 1937 at the 15th International Congress of through in biomicroscopy of the posterior seg-
Ophthalmology in Cairo his mirror gonio- ment in 1949, designing his famous
scope which was afterwards used by him and three-mirror contact lens which has remained
others to study and classify the chamber angle. to this day the instrument for the biomicro-
Many authors before him had developed in- scopist (Einige Ergebnisse der Spaltlampenuntersu-
struments for gonioscopy, but Goldmann’s chung des Kammerwinkels und des Augenhinter-
contact lens, due to its outstanding optical grundes). I could use this lens without changing
properties and its simplicity, proved to be the it at all to feed the beam of a xenon arc lamp
best and the most suitable for gonioscopy and and a ruby laser into the eye, a work which was
goniophotography. He improved the slit- performed with the physicist Walter Lotmar in
REMEMBRANCE OF HANS GOLDMANN, 1899-1991 141

1967 (Photocoagulation through the Goldmann Con- paratus. One may see here a direct relation to
tact Glass). Goldmann presented his exper- one of his basic principles - “that the meaning
iences and clinical results together with Bu- and validity of theoretical assumptions can be
sacca and Schiff-Wertheimer (Biomicroscopie du determined only if detailed consideration is
Corps Vitre et du Fond.s de l’oeil). given to verifiable consequences which such
Hans Goldmann was a visiting professor assumptions entail,” and he did not get tired of
during one year after his retirement at the warning about their fallacious use in support
Department of Ophthalmology, School of of questionable doctrines. The scientific
Medicine, Washington University, St. Louis, atmosphere in Prague must have influenced
Missouri, which was at that time chaired by him deeply, and undoubtedly made him a
Bernard Becker. There he had mainly three logical positivist, driving him to work on fun-
partners representing two different directions damental problems in ophthalmology and re-
of thought. These were Jay M. Enoch, with lated sciences. He knew the famous Philipp
whom he discussed the latest developments in Frank personally and had read and under-
psychophysics of the light sense, and Robert stood one of his major works, Das Kausalgesetz
Moses and Bernard Becker, the leading au- und seine Glrnzen (1912). In the circle around
thorities in glaucoma research at that time. Karl Popper and Moritz Schlick, Goldmann
I have offered a few remarks and observa- was exposed to fundamental questions, such as
tions about Goldmann’s research activity, the nature, scope and validity of human
which are in no way complete. How did he knowledge, as well as to other questions asked
work? I saw him doing his experimental work by the philosophy of science and the theory of
in the outpatient department, usually at places cognition. The achievement of Moritz Schlick,
where the crowd was most dense. Apparently a scholar of Max Planck, culminated in the
this did not disturb him. Did it perhaps even logical empirism which is considered to be one
stimulate him? For sure, one advantage of hav- of the main trends in the philosophy of the
ing at all times a sufficient number of patients 20th century. Karl Popper had developed his
at hand, was obvious, because it meant that theory of falsification. In his analysis of proce-
“there were always anterior and posterior seg- dures oriented toward the verification of hy-
ments of the eye available.” Since I was most of potheses and theories in the natural sciences,
the time quite close to him, I advanced to the he tried to show three conclusions. First, a
honorable job of a chief guinea pig. A few times radical claim of an empiristic verification
my cornea1 epithelium was abraded, but my would not only eliminate metaphysical theo-
retina did not object. I once collapsed follow- rems, but would also destroy the entire knowl-
ing an intravenous injection of fluorescein giv- edge of the natural sciences, just because most
en in a hurry, but woke up safely in the recov- axiomata of the natural sciences cannot be
ery station and felt perfectly well. Concluding verified. Second, one could not even speak 01‘
from the aspect of his desk, Goldmann was an inductive confirmation of theories of the
disorganized, but, obviously when one has a natural sciences and, also, the concept of the
memory comparable to a megacomputer one probability of a hypothesis provides no means
does not depend much on “external” order. for evaluating hypotheses, because no concept
Others, like myself, who have been less gift- for the evaluation of the probability of a
ed by destiny have always been intrigued by hypothesis, which makes sense, can be de-
the question of where people like Goldmann fined. Third, as a consequence of the above,
have derived their mental power and creative Goldmann maintained that evaluation meth-
imagination. I assume that this depends to a ods, applied to theories of the natural sciences,
large extent on hereditary factors; however, must do without the concepts of verification
the influence of external factors may be just as (German: ~‘r+ie&&eit) and also without the
important. I found that Goldmann could not concept of induction and probabilit!, of hy-
be understood without knowing his back- potheses.
ground. He grew up in an environment which Goldmann’s universality reminds me ofone
nurtured unrestrained critical and stubborn of his favorite authors, Ernst Mach. Ernst
scientific inquisitiveness and skepticism. Prob- Mach was also born in the Astro-Hungarian
ably Jesuitic reasoning and logic in high monarchy (at Chirlitz-Tura near Briinn, Mo-
school, where he got an excellent classical edu- ravia, now part of Czechoslovakia). Mach had
cation, contributed to sharpen his mental ap- spent 28 years as professor of experimental
142 Surv Ophthalmol 37 (2) September-October 1992 FANKHAUSER

physics at the Charles University in Prague. projectile o as sina = u/o when o > IJ. Later the
Because of fundamental discoveries in physics, angle was called the Mach angle. It was recog-
his interest shifted at an early period of his life nized that the value of o/v (the ratio of the
to physiology and psychology of sensation. He speed of an object to the speed of sound in the
also became one of the pioneers of the disci- undisturbed medium in which the object is
pline of psychophysics, which was new at that traveling, which came to be known as the
time, particularly in the field of time sense and “Mach number”) was becoming increasingly
space perception. His studies on changes of significant in aerodynamics for high-speed
kinesthetic sensation and equilibrium, associ- projectile studies and has gained considerable
ated with physical movement, acceleration, importance since WWII in theoretical and flu-
and change of orientation in the body have id dynamics.
become classic. His name continues to live in Goldmann’s universality comes close to
the “Mach bands,” a phenomenon that relates Mach’s. When one reads Mach’s book, Erkennt-
the physiological effect of spatially distributed nis and Irrtiimer, one is reminded on every sec-
light stimuli to visual perception. (A Mach ond page of Goldmann.
band is observed when a spatial distribution of Goldmann will go into history as an inven-
light results in a sharp change in illumination tive experimentalist, an acute and imaginative
at some poin A negative change corresponds critic of scientific theory who was unusually
to a band brig ter than its surroundings in the sensitive to the importance of formulating
region of sharp change. A positive change cor- problems in areas where medicine, physics,
responds to a band darker than its surround- physiology and psychophysics interesect.
ings in the region of sharp change. This phe- Goldmann’s greatness lies in his incorruptible
nomenon, a physiological effect that has no skepticism and independence. Part of Ein-
physical basis, was the subject of a number of stein’s obituary for Mach in 1916 would also
papers and of numerous investigations.) Some apply well to Goldmann - “the unmediated
of Mach’s work in physics was devoted to the pleasure of seeing and understanding, Spino-
study of sound waves, wave propulsion, and za’s amor dei intellectualis, was so strongly pre-
gas dynamics of projectiles, meteorites, explo- dominant in him that to a ripe old age he
sions and gas jets. In his celebrated publication peered into the world with the inquisitive eyes
on supersonics (published in the Sitzungsber- of a carefree child taking delight in the under-
ichte of the Academy of Sciences in Vienna, standing of relationships.”
1887), he defined the angle which a shock
wave surrounding the envelope of an advanc- I am grateful to Dr. F.C. Blodi for his help in the prepara-
ing gas cone forms with the direction of its tion of this manuscript.
Reprint address: Prof. Dr. Med. F. Fankhauser, Universi-
motion. This was shown to be related to the tSt Bern, Lindenhofspital, Bremgartenstr. 117, CH-3012
velocity of sound (v) and the velocity of the Bern, Switzerland.