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Isaac Michaelson

Isaac Michaelson was an Israeli ophthalmologist who headed the eye department at Hadassah in Jerusalem and worked to prevent blindness.

1903 to 1982Research on retinal developmentHeading Hadassah's eye departmentWork to prevent blindnessIsrael Prize in medicine, 1960

Died: 16 June 1982, Jerusalem
Occupation: ophthalmologist, physician, pedagogue
Education: University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow

Isaac Michaelson was born in 1903 in Edinburgh

Michaelson was born in 1903 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He studied ophthalmology at the universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh and graduated in 1927.

He worked at an eye disease hospital in Glasgow and lectured at the University of Glasgow. Much of his research dealt with the development of the retina. During World War II he advised the British Army on ophthalmology and served in Egypt.

In 1948 he completed his doctorate and moved with his family to Israel, where he first advised the IDF and worked as an eye surgeon. In 1949 he became head of the eye department at Rambam Hospital in Haifa. In 1954 he took over the eye department at Hadassah in Jerusalem and became a professor at the Hebrew University medical school.

Under his management the Hadassah department became an ophthalmology research center. He advised developing countries, mainly in Africa, and in 1971 initiated the International Conference on the Prevention of Blindness. After retiring from Hadassah in 1973, he worked in blind rehabilitation and founded the Jerusalem Institute for the Prevention of Blindness.

He received the Israel Prize in medicine in 1960 and joined the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 1968. He died on June 16, 1982.