Fuchs Ernst

¤ June 14, 1851 in Kritzendorf, Lower Austria † November 21, 1930 in Vienna, was an Austrian ophthalmologist.

Ernst Fuchs was born in Vienna in 1851, the eldest of three children. In 1860, Fuchs entered the Scott'sche Gymnasium in Vienna, from which he graduated in 1868. Fuchs is often described as a man with a pronounced thirst for knowledge. He told a story from his student days when he heard about a whirlpool in the Danube that could supposedly pull even strong swimmers under water. Desperate to find the answer himself, he decided to jump into the river at that very spot. Fortunately for ophthalmology, he survived this rather dangerous early experiment.

Although his father wanted him to become an engineer, Fuchs was much more interested in astronomy and physics. He eventually decided to study medicine. Fuchs considered himself fortunate to have completed his medical studies during the heyday of the Vienna School and enjoyed lectures from eminent teachers such as Joseph Hyrtl, Ernst Wilhelm von Brücke, Karl Rokitansky, Joseph Skoda, Christian Billroth and Carl Ferdinand von Arlt. Of all his teachers, it was von Brücke who influenced him the most. von Brücke became aware of Fuchs' great interest in this field and soon offered him a position as assistant to the ophthalmologist Otto Becker in Heidelberg. Germany. However, Fuchs opted instead for a one-year position as an assistant at the Physiological Institute in Innsbruck. It was here in the Austrian Alps that Fuchs developed his passion for mountaineering, which would accompany him throughout his life. He returned to Vienna in the fall of 1873 and graduated with distinction as a doctor of medicine just one year later.

In addition to medicine, Fuchs was very interested in botany, literature, geography and art history. As a member of the Vienna Geographical Society, he regularly gave lectures on his numerous travels around the globe. After a trip to Scandinavia in 1875, Fuchs brought back a pair of "snowshoes", as they were called at the time, and used them to introduce skiing to Vienna (Muller A et al. 2003).

Alongside von Brücke, it was above all von Arlt and Billroth who influenced Fuchs' professional life. At the instigation of von Arlt, with whom Fuchs had already worked for several months as an unpaid intern, he began his formal training in surgery. Billroth, whose outstanding achievements as a surgeon were already recognized throughout Europe, became Fuchs' teacher and mentor for the next two years. During this time, important changes in surgery were taking place, such as the introduction of antisepsis by Joseph Lister. However, the effects of cocaine were still unknown. Although Fuchs considered a career as a general surgeon during this time, von Arlt offered him a position as an assistant in his clinic after his time with Billroth. Apparently regretting his decision to turn down the position with Becker the year before, Fuchs became von Arlt's assistant and returned to ophthalmology. It was the beginning of a scientific and clinical career that would make Fuchs a globally recognized authority in the newly defined field of ophthalmology.

It should not be forgotten that Fuchs' career in ophthalmology began at a time when many surgeons still moistened their cataract knife with their lips to keep it moist and slippery. He was the first assistant in Vienna to give his medical lectures in both German and English. This kick-started his career.

Five years later, at the age of just 30, Fuchs was appointed Professor of Ophthalmology in Liège, Belgium (at the time the youngest appointment of a graduate from an Austrian university). Four years later, he was appointed clinical director of the Second Vienna Eye Clinic.

However, his real scientific career and worldwide fame as a lecturer and physician began with his appointment as clinic director in Vienna in 1885. His other areas of interest included dermatology, nervous diseases and the paranasal sinuses.

Fuchs' textbook on ophthalmology was first published in 1889. In the following 21 years, he published 12 of the 18 German editions of the textbook himself. Both in America and in the Far East, the textbook was regarded as the bible of ophthalmology for around 50 years. The last edition was published in German in 1945. Other books on normal and pathological anatomy developed from Fuchs' textbook, and by the end of his life Fuchs' collection of microscopic specimens was the largest of its kind.

In 1887, together with Heinrich von Bamberger, he founded the Wiener klinische Wochenschrift. His textbook on ophthalmology was published in 1889. In 1886 he was accepted as a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, and in 1921 he was made an honorary citizen of the city of Vienna.

The significance of Fuchs' life's work certainly lies in the discovery and description of numerous eye diseases and anomalies. With more than 250 scientific publications1, the name Ernst Fuchs became known throughout the world and made his clinic a meeting place for ophthalmologists worldwide.

In 1915, at the age of 64, Fuchs resigned as clinical director of the Second Vienna Eye Clinic. Apparently, the main motive for his relatively early retirement was to escape the time-consuming teaching and examination obligations. Nevertheless, after his retirement he published a further 99 articles as a doctor and lecturer, most of them based on his unique collection of pathological-histological specimens.

Named after Fuchs are:

• Fuchs syndrome I, special form of erythema exsudativum multiforme
• Fuchs syndrome II or Fuchs endothelial dystrophy
• Fuchs syndrome III or Fuchs heterochromic iridocyclitis
• Fuchs spot

1. Fuchs E: Textbook of ophthalmology. Deuticke, Vienna et al. 1889, (digitized version; published in 18 editions until 1945, the last edited by Adalbert Fuchs).
2. Fuchs Ernst (1957) In: Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815-1950 (ÖBL). Volume 1, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1957, p. 378.
3. https://austria-forum.org/web-books/ernstfuchs00en2021isds
4. Jantsch M (1961) Fuchs, Ernst. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin ISBN 3-428-00186-9, p. 677 f.
5. Lebensohn JE (1951) Professor Ernst Fuchs. Am J Ophthalmol 34: 772- 774
6. Meller J (1930) Ernst Fuchs Wien Klin Wochenschr.1930:491- 493
7. Muller A et al. (2003) Professor Ernst Fuchs (1851-1930): a defining career in ophthalmology. Arch Ophthalmol 121:888-891.