Otto Carl Friedrich Westphal

Who was Otto Carl Friedrich Westphal?

Otto Carl Friedrich Westphal, a physician and Geheimer Sanitätsrath, wrote on the human eye and on optics. He was interested in environmental impacts on eyesight, including light quality, and argued that eyeglasses should be tailored to occupation. He also examined a variety of eyewashes and tinctures, and reportedly invented eye occlusion therapy, currently used for correction of strabismus and amblyopia. He was married to Karoline Friederike Heine, the daughter of a wealthy Jewish banker, and is the father of Carl Friedrich Otto Westphal and grandfather of Alexander Carl Otto Westphal.