Tim Bowden presented with Czech medal

On Christmas Day 1961 Professor Otto Wichterle produced the first wearable soft contact lenses on his kitchen table.

Fifty years on UK practitioner Tim Bowden was invited to Prague to celebrate the anniversary by delivering a presentation to the Czech Contact Lens Society. But he was in for a celebration of his own as he began to make the lecture.

The president of the society, Jiri Michalek, presented him with the Wichterle Medal for 'Services to Contactology' for his research and promotion of the history of contact lenses. Bowden (centre) is pictured with Michalek (left) and Pavel Risek the congress chair.