It was around this day 16 years ago (4 March 1995) a blind teenager in Washington made history by becoming the first person to receive a bionic eye.
The term “Bionic” refers to the use of engineered materials to stimulate, improve or replace bodily functions.
Work on restoring vision artificially began in the 1960s when Giles Brindley of London’s Medical Research Council lined a cap with electrodes and placed it on a blind patient’s head. Pulses transmitted through the cap caused the patient to “see” white light.
The technology progressed, and in 2000, a blind woman had her sight partially restored when a bionic system sent signals to her optic nerve.
The term “Bionic” refers to the use of engineered materials to stimulate, improve or replace bodily functions…
Researchers at Bionic Vision Australia (BVA) are now looking at the use of diamonds, to develop Australia’s first bionic eye.
BVA unveiled its first prototype bionic eye in March last year. Its technology consists visual scene and transmits radio frequency signals via an external processing unit to a microchip implanted at the back of the eye.
The Australian team are planning to make their device from diamonds, so that it does not deteriorate.
