The short film documentary tells an incredible story from today’s point of view, when less than two years after the construction of the Czechoslovak ruby lasers, the first laser surgery of the retina was performed directly in the laboratory of our institute. However, this very risky step paid off, the operation was successful and the success stimulated the production of ophthalmocoagulators for hospitals. The document also traces the liquidation of the laser laboratory after the 1968 invasion and further developments, including some of the Academy of Sciences’ current laser projects.
The laser ray, one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century, began to be researched by scientists of the Academy of Sciences in Kobylisy, Prague, in the second half of 1962. In modest conditions, with a single discharge tube and self-built apparatus, but very successfully. In collaboration with Jan John, a doctor at the nearby Bulovka Hospital, a team led by Jan Blabla and Alena Jelínková carried out a series of experiments on the eye background of rabbits, whose eye structure is very similar to that of humans.
The laser appeared to be the ideal technology for treating the detached retina of the eye. Experiments on the Kobylisy ruby laser confirmed this. A unique opportunity arose in 1964, when a doctor brought a patient with a torn retina to the laboratory whose only chance was a laser treatment. The operation was successful and the success prompted the production of an ophthalmocoagulator. By 1972 alone, it had helped save the sight of more than 6000 patients.
Laser technology has become a flagship for the Institute of Photonics and Electronics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (ÚFE). For more than three decades, for example, ÚFE has been developing a large infrastructure for research on fiber lasers and optical fiber technology, keeping it at the forefront of world research…
The film was made on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Institute of Photonics and Electronics.
