Charles Kelman

Charles David Kelman was born on May 23, 1930, in Brooklyn, New York, to Eva and David Kelman. He grew up in East New York before the family moved to Forest Hills, Queens. His father was a Jewish immigrant from Greece who never received the proper compensation and recognition for his inventions, He began playing regularly for ''The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour'' radio show. to earn a B.S. degree in 1950. He earned a Bachelor of Medical Science degree from the University of Geneva in 1952. After interning at Kings County Hospital from 1956 to 1957, he performed postgraduate work in ophthalmology at Bellevue Medical Center from 1957 to 1958, and then did his residency at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia from 1958 to 1960. == Career ==

As an ophthalmologist and surgeon In 1960, Kelman started an ophthalmology private practice. In the fall of 1962, he began to experiment with the use of cryosurgery. His first invention in the fall of 1962 (and published in January 1963) was an ophthalmic cryoprobe which used liquid nitrogen, which he used to freeze a cataractous lens before removal in intracapsular cataract extraction (ICCE), which removed the lens with the capsule intact. Kelman's cryoprobe using liquid nitrogen offered advantages over the cryoprobe which used carbon dioxide which was used for cataract extraction and had been published by Tadeusz Krwawicz in the British Journal of Ophthalmology on April 1, 1961. Kelman named the procedure phacoemulsification, a technique that has become standard treatment for cataracts. His first patient's eye became infected and was removed. However, he was successful on subsequent attempts. Kelman began a novel business relationship with the manufacturer to produce the device. After publishing "Phaco-emulsification and Aspiration—A New Technique for Cataract Removal: A Preliminary Report" in the American Journal of Ophthalmology, he began teaching courses to surgeons interested in learning this new technique. Kelman's developments allowed the incision necessary for ECCE to be reduced from to and minimized recovery time. This new surgery method removed the need for an extended hospital stay and made the surgery less painful. The technique and similar tools have also been adopted and used in neurosurgery to remove tumors from the brain and spinal cord, and subsequently ushered a trend of minimally-invasive outpatient surgical procedures. this issue was only overcome when Thomas R. Mazzocco invented the silicone IOL in the early 1980s. What became known as the "Mazzocco taco" could be folded and inserted in the same small incision used for phacoemulsification. When the foldable IOL was approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration in 1984, the clear advantage of Kelman's phacoemulsification was fully realized. Kelman treated many celebrities including Joe Frazier, Lionel Hampton, Rex Harrison, Ann Miller, Jan Peerce, and William B. Williams. Hedy Lamarr, who Kelman treated in October 1980, said "I was blind for more than seven years. But I'm fine now. Dr. Kelman gave me my sight back. He gave me my eyes." In 1992, The New York Times estimated that Kelman's innovation "shaved $7 billion a year from the nation's hospital bill." as well as a lay book, Cataracts: What You Must Know About Them, published by Crown Publishers in 1982. Later in his career, he invented a way to create collagen from a patient's skin to avoid allergic reactions. He continued to practice medicine, perform surgery, and teach alongside his career as an entertainer. Cataract surgery with phacoemulsification is one of the most common surgeries in the world with more than 9.5 million such procedures performed each year around the world as of 2011. As an entertainer Kelman began composing music in high school he developed a musical comedy routine which he also performed in Atlantic City and Las Vegas, opening for or performing alongside the Spinners, Glen Campbell, James Darren, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton and Regis Philbin. Kelman co-produced several musicals on Broadway, including Can-Can (1981), Triumph of Love (1997), and The Sound of Music (1998–1999), and was a member of the Friars Club in New York. == Awards and honors ==

from President George H. W. Bush with Barbara Franklin, Secretary of Commerce In 1970, Kelman was awarded by the American Academy of Achievement. In 1982, he was a recipient of the Congressional Salute in the U.S. Senate, 97th Congress, in Washington, D.C. In 1985, Kelman presented the first American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) Innovator's Lecture. The lecture series was named in his honor in 2003. He also delivered the ASCRS's Binkhorst Lecture in 1989, the Ridley Medal Lecture at the International Congress of Ophthalmology in 1990, The same year, he had received the Distinguished Service Award from Tufts University and the Inventor of the Year Award from the New York Patent, Trademark and Copyright Law Association. At the July 1994 International Congress of Cataract and Refractive Surgery in Montreal, Canada, he was recognized as the Ophthalmologist of the Century. In February 2004, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio. In January 2010, the New York public television station WLIW aired a documentary titled Through My Eyes: The Charlie Kelman Story; his autobiography published in 1985 was also titled Through My Eyes. == Personal life and death ==

Kelman and his first wife Joan Kelman (later Bernstein) had three children: David Joseph (who died in 2003), Lesley, and Jennifer. With his second wife Ann, he had three sons: Evan, Jason, and Seth. Kelman was an avid golfer and learned to fly a helicopter later in life. In 1996, he moved to Boca Raton, where he died of lung cancer on June 1, 2004, at the age of 74. == References ==