Julius von Michel

Who was Julius von Michel?

Julius von Michel was a German ophthalmologist born in Frankenthal.

He studied at the of Universities of Würzburg and Zurich, and in 1866 served as a military physician in the Austro-Prussian War. From 1868 to 1870 he was an assistant to Johann Friedrich Horner at the University Eye Clinic in Zurich. During the Franco-Prussian War, he again served as a military doctor, and afterwards worked with Gustav Schwalbe at Carl Ludwig's Physiological Institute in Leipzig.

In 1872 he earned his habilitation in Leipzig, and subsequently became an associate professor of ophthalmology at the University of Erlangen, where in 1874 he gained a full professorship. From 1879 to 1900 he was a professor at the University of Würzburg, and in 1900, he succeeded Karl Ernst Theodor Schweigger at the University of Berlin.

Michel is remembered for work involving tuberculosis of the eye, and his pioneer research of central retinal vein occlusion.

Among his written efforts are Lehrbuch der Augenheilkunde and Klinischer Leitfaden der Augenheilkunde. With Hermann Kuhnt, he founded the journal Zeitschrift für Augenheilkunde.