Pioneering ophthalmologist; his major contribution to medicine was in supporting the “Howe Bill” in the (1890) New York State legislature and subsequently in other state legislatures, which required prophylaxis for ophthalmia neonatorum (requiring silver nitrate drops in the eyes of newborns as a disinfectant to prevent neonatal infection and possible blindness).
Lucien Howe is a son of Col. Marshall Spring Howe (12 June 1804 Standish ME-08 December 1878 Harrodsburg KY); Marshall Spring Howe married, first, Anna Timothy Cleland, daughter of John C. Cleland and Maria Holland, (26 June 1822 Montego Bay, St James, Jamaica, Greater Antilles West Indies; Anna T. Cleland Howe Doggett died 09 January 1892 Florida; Anna Cleland Doggett buried Jacksonville, Florida).
Lucien Howe married, on 16 August 1893 Cambridge MA, his cousin, Elizabeth Mehaffey Howe (1860-1942), daughter of Brevet Major General Albion Parris Howe and Elizabeth Law Mehaffey; Lucien and Elizabeth Mehaffey Howe had no issue.
Lucien Howe
Birth: 18 Sep 1848 Standish, ME
Death: 27 Dec 1928 Belmont, MA; of pneumonia
Type Practice: Allopath
Practice Specialities: Buffalo, NY, Jan 19, 1911, Cambridge, MA, Boston, MA, Jun 24, 1927, Belmont, MA, Sep 6, 1928
Board Specialties: Ophthalmology
Licenses: NY, 1914, 1871
Practice Dates Places: Buffalo, NY, Jan 19, 1911, Cambridge, MA, Boston, MA, Jun 24, 1927, Belmont, MA, Sep 6, 1928
Hospital: Buffalo Eye and Ear Infirmary, Buffalo General Hospital
Medical School: State University of New York Downstate College of Medicine, Brooklyn: Long Island Coll. Hosp., 1871, (G), NY-10 Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, 1872, (G), ENGL-15 Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 1873, (G)
Education: Bowdoin College (Maine), 1878
Professorship: State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine: University of Buffalo School of Medicine, ophthalmology
JAMA Citation: 92:165
Source: Directory of Deceased American Physicians, 1804-1929
The Howe Medal: Its History and Significance, Daniel M Albert, MD, delivered May 17, 2008.
Lucien Howe was born in 1848 in the home of his grandfather, Dr. Ebenezer Howe, in Standish, Maine, and graduated from Bowdoin College in 1870. He studied medicine at Harvard, when Oliver Wendell Holmes was teaching anatomy there, continued his medical studies at Long Island College Hospital, and received his medical degree from Bellevue in 1872. On completing his medical studies, one of his mentors said to him, “There is a man in Edinburgh named Lister who thinks that fevers are caused by some sort of germ. I think there may be something in it. I advise you to go over and see.” Howe studied under Lister and then worked in various clinics in France, Austria, and Germany, finally spending time as a student under Hemholtz. In 1874, Howe became a pioneer ophthalmologist in Buffalo, New York, then a comparatively small but growing city, where he practiced eye, ear, nose, and throat. Two years later, he founded the Buffalo Eye and Ear Infirmary and in 1879 became professor of ophthalmology at the University of Buffalo. Fifty years later, when Howe left Buffalo for Boston, he had treated 100,000 patients at the Buffalo Eye and Ear Infirmary. His monumental contribution to combating eye disease, for which he mobilized the American Ophthamology Society (AOS) to give support, was for passage of the “Howe Bill” in the (1890) New York State legislature and subsequently in other state legislatures, which required prophylaxis for ophthalmia neonatorum (requiring silver nitrate drops in the eyes of newborns as a disinfectant to prevent neonatal infection and possible blindness). In addition, he wrote a monumental two-volume monograph, published between the years 1906 and 1908, entitled Muscles of the Eye, which remained the leading English text on that subject for the next quarter of a century. With a great capacity for leadership, Howe rose to become chair or president of each of the major medical or ophthalmic societies he belonged to. He was convinced of the fact that, “Medals and prizes for original work in medicine tend to promote healthy rivalry and to advance our science.” In addition, he was convinced of the fact that while young physicians coveted cash prizes, “Gold medals are more appreciated by investigators ripe in years and experience as lasting evidence of distinguished professional service.” Accordingly, on becoming president of the New York State Medical Society in 1906, president of the AOS in 1919, chair of the section on ophthalmology of the American Medical Association in 1924, he gave each of these organizations a gift of $1,500, to stimulate and reward original investigation of some phase of ophthalmology or allied sciences or allied branches of surgery; or for the discovery of some new method of examining or treating the eyes. Each of these medals eventually became known as the Howe Medal, as did a fourth medal established by the University of Buffalo and the Buffalo Ophthalmological Society in 1928, following Howe’s death that year, to honor his memory. The Howe Medal of the AOS became the most celebrated of these awards. Howe himself chaired the first committee on the prize medals (1919) and served on the committee that proposed the initial awards (1922-1924). He oversaw the investment of his gift in 4.5% Liberty bonds, and with the medal costing in the neighborhood of $25 throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Howe envisioned that the income of the fund might eventually provide a cash prize as well as the medal. A loyal alumnus of Harvard Medical School, in 1926 Howe funded the laboratories of ophthalmology at that university with a gift of $250,000, and additionally he left several hundred thousand more dollars in his will. Howe became the first director of the laboratory and was active in its organization at the time of his death in 1928.
By the time the first medal was awarded in 1922, the criteria had been broadened. The medal could be given for one or more of the three following reasons: “a) an appreciation of discoveries so notable as to advance suddenly the progress of ophthalmology in all parts of the world. b) in recognition of less brilliant but still conspicuous service as a writer or teacher, during long years of devotion to our science. c) to encourage investigation among the younger ophthalmologists, in order that this recognition of their efforts may promote them to a higher and well-recognized place among their fellows, the reason for such an award being usually based on the result of research. The award may be made to any ophthalmologist in any country.”
Source: http://www.aosonline.org/history/the_howe_medal_text.pdf
Howe and eugenics (edited): Lucien Howe was a major figure in support of the controversial science of eugenics. He believed that eugenics could be a tool in the fight against preventable blindness, specifically the small percentage of cases that were inherited. He theorized that by sterilizing the blind, inherited blindness could eventually be eradicated. Howe was a member of the International Eugenic Congress' Committee on Immigration and president of the Eugenics Research Association. Howe supported and helped draft proposed legislation to prevent procreation by people with poor vision and by people whose relatives had poor vision. Howe conducted surveys of homes for the blind nationwide to gather family histories and identify people whose blindness was believed to be hereditary. Howe headed a committee of the American Medical Association, which collaborated with the Eugenics Record Office to register family "pedigrees" of blind people.
Source: www.wikipedia.com
Lucien Howe is a son of Col. Marshall Spring Howe (12 June 1804 Standish ME-08 December 1878 Harrodsburg KY); Marshall Spring Howe married, first, Anna Timothy Cleland, daughter of John C. Cleland and Maria Holland, (26 June 1822 Montego Bay, St James, Jamaica, Greater Antilles West Indies; Anna T. Cleland Howe Doggett died 09 January 1892 Florida; Anna Cleland Doggett buried Jacksonville, Florida).
Lucien Howe married, on 16 August 1893 Cambridge MA, his cousin, Elizabeth Mehaffey Howe (1860-1942), daughter of Brevet Major General Albion Parris Howe and Elizabeth Law Mehaffey; Lucien and Elizabeth Mehaffey Howe had no issue.
Lucien Howe
Birth: 18 Sep 1848 Standish, ME
Death: 27 Dec 1928 Belmont, MA; of pneumonia
Type Practice: Allopath
Practice Specialities: Buffalo, NY, Jan 19, 1911, Cambridge, MA, Boston, MA, Jun 24, 1927, Belmont, MA, Sep 6, 1928
Board Specialties: Ophthalmology
Licenses: NY, 1914, 1871
Practice Dates Places: Buffalo, NY, Jan 19, 1911, Cambridge, MA, Boston, MA, Jun 24, 1927, Belmont, MA, Sep 6, 1928
Hospital: Buffalo Eye and Ear Infirmary, Buffalo General Hospital
Medical School: State University of New York Downstate College of Medicine, Brooklyn: Long Island Coll. Hosp., 1871, (G), NY-10 Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, 1872, (G), ENGL-15 Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 1873, (G)
Education: Bowdoin College (Maine), 1878
Professorship: State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine: University of Buffalo School of Medicine, ophthalmology
JAMA Citation: 92:165
Source: Directory of Deceased American Physicians, 1804-1929
The Howe Medal: Its History and Significance, Daniel M Albert, MD, delivered May 17, 2008.
Lucien Howe was born in 1848 in the home of his grandfather, Dr. Ebenezer Howe, in Standish, Maine, and graduated from Bowdoin College in 1870. He studied medicine at Harvard, when Oliver Wendell Holmes was teaching anatomy there, continued his medical studies at Long Island College Hospital, and received his medical degree from Bellevue in 1872. On completing his medical studies, one of his mentors said to him, “There is a man in Edinburgh named Lister who thinks that fevers are caused by some sort of germ. I think there may be something in it. I advise you to go over and see.” Howe studied under Lister and then worked in various clinics in France, Austria, and Germany, finally spending time as a student under Hemholtz. In 1874, Howe became a pioneer ophthalmologist in Buffalo, New York, then a comparatively small but growing city, where he practiced eye, ear, nose, and throat. Two years later, he founded the Buffalo Eye and Ear Infirmary and in 1879 became professor of ophthalmology at the University of Buffalo. Fifty years later, when Howe left Buffalo for Boston, he had treated 100,000 patients at the Buffalo Eye and Ear Infirmary. His monumental contribution to combating eye disease, for which he mobilized the American Ophthamology Society (AOS) to give support, was for passage of the “Howe Bill” in the (1890) New York State legislature and subsequently in other state legislatures, which required prophylaxis for ophthalmia neonatorum (requiring silver nitrate drops in the eyes of newborns as a disinfectant to prevent neonatal infection and possible blindness). In addition, he wrote a monumental two-volume monograph, published between the years 1906 and 1908, entitled Muscles of the Eye, which remained the leading English text on that subject for the next quarter of a century. With a great capacity for leadership, Howe rose to become chair or president of each of the major medical or ophthalmic societies he belonged to. He was convinced of the fact that, “Medals and prizes for original work in medicine tend to promote healthy rivalry and to advance our science.” In addition, he was convinced of the fact that while young physicians coveted cash prizes, “Gold medals are more appreciated by investigators ripe in years and experience as lasting evidence of distinguished professional service.” Accordingly, on becoming president of the New York State Medical Society in 1906, president of the AOS in 1919, chair of the section on ophthalmology of the American Medical Association in 1924, he gave each of these organizations a gift of $1,500, to stimulate and reward original investigation of some phase of ophthalmology or allied sciences or allied branches of surgery; or for the discovery of some new method of examining or treating the eyes. Each of these medals eventually became known as the Howe Medal, as did a fourth medal established by the University of Buffalo and the Buffalo Ophthalmological Society in 1928, following Howe’s death that year, to honor his memory. The Howe Medal of the AOS became the most celebrated of these awards. Howe himself chaired the first committee on the prize medals (1919) and served on the committee that proposed the initial awards (1922-1924). He oversaw the investment of his gift in 4.5% Liberty bonds, and with the medal costing in the neighborhood of $25 throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Howe envisioned that the income of the fund might eventually provide a cash prize as well as the medal. A loyal alumnus of Harvard Medical School, in 1926 Howe funded the laboratories of ophthalmology at that university with a gift of $250,000, and additionally he left several hundred thousand more dollars in his will. Howe became the first director of the laboratory and was active in its organization at the time of his death in 1928.
By the time the first medal was awarded in 1922, the criteria had been broadened. The medal could be given for one or more of the three following reasons: “a) an appreciation of discoveries so notable as to advance suddenly the progress of ophthalmology in all parts of the world. b) in recognition of less brilliant but still conspicuous service as a writer or teacher, during long years of devotion to our science. c) to encourage investigation among the younger ophthalmologists, in order that this recognition of their efforts may promote them to a higher and well-recognized place among their fellows, the reason for such an award being usually based on the result of research. The award may be made to any ophthalmologist in any country.”
Source: http://www.aosonline.org/history/the_howe_medal_text.pdf
Howe and eugenics (edited): Lucien Howe was a major figure in support of the controversial science of eugenics. He believed that eugenics could be a tool in the fight against preventable blindness, specifically the small percentage of cases that were inherited. He theorized that by sterilizing the blind, inherited blindness could eventually be eradicated. Howe was a member of the International Eugenic Congress' Committee on Immigration and president of the Eugenics Research Association. Howe supported and helped draft proposed legislation to prevent procreation by people with poor vision and by people whose relatives had poor vision. Howe conducted surveys of homes for the blind nationwide to gather family histories and identify people whose blindness was believed to be hereditary. Howe headed a committee of the American Medical Association, which collaborated with the Eugenics Record Office to register family "pedigrees" of blind people.
Source: www.wikipedia.com
Pioneering ophthalmologist; his major contribution to medicine was in supporting the “Howe Bill” in the (1890) New York State legislature and subsequently in other state legislatures, which required prophylaxis for ophthalmia neonatorum (requiring silver nitrate drops in the eyes of newborns as a disinfectant to prevent neonatal infection and possible blindness).
Lucien Howe is a son of Col. Marshall Spring Howe (12 June 1804 Standish ME-08 December 1878 Harrodsburg KY); Marshall Spring Howe married, first, Anna Timothy Cleland, daughter of John C. Cleland and Maria Holland, (26 June 1822 Montego Bay, St James, Jamaica, Greater Antilles West Indies; Anna T. Cleland Howe Doggett died 09 January 1892 Florida; Anna Cleland Doggett buried Jacksonville, Florida).
Lucien Howe married, on 16 August 1893 Cambridge MA, his cousin, Elizabeth Mehaffey Howe (1860-1942), daughter of Brevet Major General Albion Parris Howe and Elizabeth Law Mehaffey; Lucien and Elizabeth Mehaffey Howe had no issue.
Lucien Howe
Birth: 18 Sep 1848 Standish, ME
Death: 27 Dec 1928 Belmont, MA; of pneumonia
Type Practice: Allopath
Practice Specialities: Buffalo, NY, Jan 19, 1911, Cambridge, MA, Boston, MA, Jun 24, 1927, Belmont, MA, Sep 6, 1928
Board Specialties: Ophthalmology
Licenses: NY, 1914, 1871
Practice Dates Places: Buffalo, NY, Jan 19, 1911, Cambridge, MA, Boston, MA, Jun 24, 1927, Belmont, MA, Sep 6, 1928
Hospital: Buffalo Eye and Ear Infirmary, Buffalo General Hospital
Medical School: State University of New York Downstate College of Medicine, Brooklyn: Long Island Coll. Hosp., 1871, (G), NY-10 Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, 1872, (G), ENGL-15 Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 1873, (G)
Education: Bowdoin College (Maine), 1878
Professorship: State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine: University of Buffalo School of Medicine, ophthalmology
JAMA Citation: 92:165
Source: Directory of Deceased American Physicians, 1804-1929
The Howe Medal: Its History and Significance, Daniel M Albert, MD, delivered May 17, 2008.
Lucien Howe was born in 1848 in the home of his grandfather, Dr. Ebenezer Howe, in Standish, Maine, and graduated from Bowdoin College in 1870. He studied medicine at Harvard, when Oliver Wendell Holmes was teaching anatomy there, continued his medical studies at Long Island College Hospital, and received his medical degree from Bellevue in 1872. On completing his medical studies, one of his mentors said to him, “There is a man in Edinburgh named Lister who thinks that fevers are caused by some sort of germ. I think there may be something in it. I advise you to go over and see.” Howe studied under Lister and then worked in various clinics in France, Austria, and Germany, finally spending time as a student under Hemholtz. In 1874, Howe became a pioneer ophthalmologist in Buffalo, New York, then a comparatively small but growing city, where he practiced eye, ear, nose, and throat. Two years later, he founded the Buffalo Eye and Ear Infirmary and in 1879 became professor of ophthalmology at the University of Buffalo. Fifty years later, when Howe left Buffalo for Boston, he had treated 100,000 patients at the Buffalo Eye and Ear Infirmary. His monumental contribution to combating eye disease, for which he mobilized the American Ophthamology Society (AOS) to give support, was for passage of the “Howe Bill” in the (1890) New York State legislature and subsequently in other state legislatures, which required prophylaxis for ophthalmia neonatorum (requiring silver nitrate drops in the eyes of newborns as a disinfectant to prevent neonatal infection and possible blindness). In addition, he wrote a monumental two-volume monograph, published between the years 1906 and 1908, entitled Muscles of the Eye, which remained the leading English text on that subject for the next quarter of a century. With a great capacity for leadership, Howe rose to become chair or president of each of the major medical or ophthalmic societies he belonged to. He was convinced of the fact that, “Medals and prizes for original work in medicine tend to promote healthy rivalry and to advance our science.” In addition, he was convinced of the fact that while young physicians coveted cash prizes, “Gold medals are more appreciated by investigators ripe in years and experience as lasting evidence of distinguished professional service.” Accordingly, on becoming president of the New York State Medical Society in 1906, president of the AOS in 1919, chair of the section on ophthalmology of the American Medical Association in 1924, he gave each of these organizations a gift of $1,500, to stimulate and reward original investigation of some phase of ophthalmology or allied sciences or allied branches of surgery; or for the discovery of some new method of examining or treating the eyes. Each of these medals eventually became known as the Howe Medal, as did a fourth medal established by the University of Buffalo and the Buffalo Ophthalmological Society in 1928, following Howe’s death that year, to honor his memory. The Howe Medal of the AOS became the most celebrated of these awards. Howe himself chaired the first committee on the prize medals (1919) and served on the committee that proposed the initial awards (1922-1924). He oversaw the investment of his gift in 4.5% Liberty bonds, and with the medal costing in the neighborhood of $25 throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Howe envisioned that the income of the fund might eventually provide a cash prize as well as the medal. A loyal alumnus of Harvard Medical School, in 1926 Howe funded the laboratories of ophthalmology at that university with a gift of $250,000, and additionally he left several hundred thousand more dollars in his will. Howe became the first director of the laboratory and was active in its organization at the time of his death in 1928.
By the time the first medal was awarded in 1922, the criteria had been broadened. The medal could be given for one or more of the three following reasons: “a) an appreciation of discoveries so notable as to advance suddenly the progress of ophthalmology in all parts of the world. b) in recognition of less brilliant but still conspicuous service as a writer or teacher, during long years of devotion to our science. c) to encourage investigation among the younger ophthalmologists, in order that this recognition of their efforts may promote them to a higher and well-recognized place among their fellows, the reason for such an award being usually based on the result of research. The award may be made to any ophthalmologist in any country.”
Source: http://www.aosonline.org/history/the_howe_medal_text.pdf
Howe and eugenics (edited): Lucien Howe was a major figure in support of the controversial science of eugenics. He believed that eugenics could be a tool in the fight against preventable blindness, specifically the small percentage of cases that were inherited. He theorized that by sterilizing the blind, inherited blindness could eventually be eradicated. Howe was a member of the International Eugenic Congress' Committee on Immigration and president of the Eugenics Research Association. Howe supported and helped draft proposed legislation to prevent procreation by people with poor vision and by people whose relatives had poor vision. Howe conducted surveys of homes for the blind nationwide to gather family histories and identify people whose blindness was believed to be hereditary. Howe headed a committee of the American Medical Association, which collaborated with the Eugenics Record Office to register family "pedigrees" of blind people.
Source: www.wikipedia.com
Lucien Howe is a son of Col. Marshall Spring Howe (12 June 1804 Standish ME-08 December 1878 Harrodsburg KY); Marshall Spring Howe married, first, Anna Timothy Cleland, daughter of John C. Cleland and Maria Holland, (26 June 1822 Montego Bay, St James, Jamaica, Greater Antilles West Indies; Anna T. Cleland Howe Doggett died 09 January 1892 Florida; Anna Cleland Doggett buried Jacksonville, Florida).
Lucien Howe married, on 16 August 1893 Cambridge MA, his cousin, Elizabeth Mehaffey Howe (1860-1942), daughter of Brevet Major General Albion Parris Howe and Elizabeth Law Mehaffey; Lucien and Elizabeth Mehaffey Howe had no issue.
Lucien Howe
Birth: 18 Sep 1848 Standish, ME
Death: 27 Dec 1928 Belmont, MA; of pneumonia
Type Practice: Allopath
Practice Specialities: Buffalo, NY, Jan 19, 1911, Cambridge, MA, Boston, MA, Jun 24, 1927, Belmont, MA, Sep 6, 1928
Board Specialties: Ophthalmology
Licenses: NY, 1914, 1871
Practice Dates Places: Buffalo, NY, Jan 19, 1911, Cambridge, MA, Boston, MA, Jun 24, 1927, Belmont, MA, Sep 6, 1928
Hospital: Buffalo Eye and Ear Infirmary, Buffalo General Hospital
Medical School: State University of New York Downstate College of Medicine, Brooklyn: Long Island Coll. Hosp., 1871, (G), NY-10 Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, 1872, (G), ENGL-15 Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 1873, (G)
Education: Bowdoin College (Maine), 1878
Professorship: State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine: University of Buffalo School of Medicine, ophthalmology
JAMA Citation: 92:165
Source: Directory of Deceased American Physicians, 1804-1929
The Howe Medal: Its History and Significance, Daniel M Albert, MD, delivered May 17, 2008.
Lucien Howe was born in 1848 in the home of his grandfather, Dr. Ebenezer Howe, in Standish, Maine, and graduated from Bowdoin College in 1870. He studied medicine at Harvard, when Oliver Wendell Holmes was teaching anatomy there, continued his medical studies at Long Island College Hospital, and received his medical degree from Bellevue in 1872. On completing his medical studies, one of his mentors said to him, “There is a man in Edinburgh named Lister who thinks that fevers are caused by some sort of germ. I think there may be something in it. I advise you to go over and see.” Howe studied under Lister and then worked in various clinics in France, Austria, and Germany, finally spending time as a student under Hemholtz. In 1874, Howe became a pioneer ophthalmologist in Buffalo, New York, then a comparatively small but growing city, where he practiced eye, ear, nose, and throat. Two years later, he founded the Buffalo Eye and Ear Infirmary and in 1879 became professor of ophthalmology at the University of Buffalo. Fifty years later, when Howe left Buffalo for Boston, he had treated 100,000 patients at the Buffalo Eye and Ear Infirmary. His monumental contribution to combating eye disease, for which he mobilized the American Ophthamology Society (AOS) to give support, was for passage of the “Howe Bill” in the (1890) New York State legislature and subsequently in other state legislatures, which required prophylaxis for ophthalmia neonatorum (requiring silver nitrate drops in the eyes of newborns as a disinfectant to prevent neonatal infection and possible blindness). In addition, he wrote a monumental two-volume monograph, published between the years 1906 and 1908, entitled Muscles of the Eye, which remained the leading English text on that subject for the next quarter of a century. With a great capacity for leadership, Howe rose to become chair or president of each of the major medical or ophthalmic societies he belonged to. He was convinced of the fact that, “Medals and prizes for original work in medicine tend to promote healthy rivalry and to advance our science.” In addition, he was convinced of the fact that while young physicians coveted cash prizes, “Gold medals are more appreciated by investigators ripe in years and experience as lasting evidence of distinguished professional service.” Accordingly, on becoming president of the New York State Medical Society in 1906, president of the AOS in 1919, chair of the section on ophthalmology of the American Medical Association in 1924, he gave each of these organizations a gift of $1,500, to stimulate and reward original investigation of some phase of ophthalmology or allied sciences or allied branches of surgery; or for the discovery of some new method of examining or treating the eyes. Each of these medals eventually became known as the Howe Medal, as did a fourth medal established by the University of Buffalo and the Buffalo Ophthalmological Society in 1928, following Howe’s death that year, to honor his memory. The Howe Medal of the AOS became the most celebrated of these awards. Howe himself chaired the first committee on the prize medals (1919) and served on the committee that proposed the initial awards (1922-1924). He oversaw the investment of his gift in 4.5% Liberty bonds, and with the medal costing in the neighborhood of $25 throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Howe envisioned that the income of the fund might eventually provide a cash prize as well as the medal. A loyal alumnus of Harvard Medical School, in 1926 Howe funded the laboratories of ophthalmology at that university with a gift of $250,000, and additionally he left several hundred thousand more dollars in his will. Howe became the first director of the laboratory and was active in its organization at the time of his death in 1928.
By the time the first medal was awarded in 1922, the criteria had been broadened. The medal could be given for one or more of the three following reasons: “a) an appreciation of discoveries so notable as to advance suddenly the progress of ophthalmology in all parts of the world. b) in recognition of less brilliant but still conspicuous service as a writer or teacher, during long years of devotion to our science. c) to encourage investigation among the younger ophthalmologists, in order that this recognition of their efforts may promote them to a higher and well-recognized place among their fellows, the reason for such an award being usually based on the result of research. The award may be made to any ophthalmologist in any country.”
Source: http://www.aosonline.org/history/the_howe_medal_text.pdf
Howe and eugenics (edited): Lucien Howe was a major figure in support of the controversial science of eugenics. He believed that eugenics could be a tool in the fight against preventable blindness, specifically the small percentage of cases that were inherited. He theorized that by sterilizing the blind, inherited blindness could eventually be eradicated. Howe was a member of the International Eugenic Congress' Committee on Immigration and president of the Eugenics Research Association. Howe supported and helped draft proposed legislation to prevent procreation by people with poor vision and by people whose relatives had poor vision. Howe conducted surveys of homes for the blind nationwide to gather family histories and identify people whose blindness was believed to be hereditary. Howe headed a committee of the American Medical Association, which collaborated with the Eugenics Record Office to register family "pedigrees" of blind people.
Source: www.wikipedia.com
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