Just spotted this impressive obituary from the Chicago Tribune for contact lens pioneer Dr Newton Wesley http://tinyurl.com/3oq9x52 who was one half of the famous US contact lens firm Wesley Jessen that was eventually bought by CIBA Vision in 2000. An optometrist, Dr Wesley, who died at the grand age of 93 and sported a fantastic set of sideburns, researched and developed contact lenses with George Jessen in the 1940s. They eventually produced rigid contact lenses that were smaller, thinner and longer-wearing than those available at the time. Dr Wesley had been spurred to do so because he suffered from keratoconus and his product was also cited as saving his vision. Among the many interesting details about him were that as the son of Japanese immigrant parents he was interned in the Second World War. When promoting his lenses he then travelled so much that he became a pilot and he campaigned in the 1950s to get 'contact lens' into the dictionary. A memorial service was held at Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford on August 20 to mark an inspiring life.
Opinion