William Stewart Duke-Elder (1898–1978), a Scottish ophthalmologist, was a dominant force in his field for more than a quarter of a century. He is best remembered as a talented and prolific writer and editor, producing 7 volumes of Textbook of Ophthalmology and 15 volumes of System of Ophthalmology, along with many other textbooks and scientific papers that provided the educational foundation for most of the world's ophthalmologists.  In addition to his own writings, he served for many years as editor of the British Journal of Ophthalmology and Ophthalmic Literature. He was knighted in 1933 serving as the Surgeon Oculist to King Edward VIII, George VI and Queen Elizabeth II. He is well-known amongst medical students who aspire to be ophthalmologists as his name was given to the undergraduate prize in ophthalmology organized by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists.

He  was voted by over 33,000 ophthalmologists in 1999 as one of the  10 most influential ophthalmologists in the 20th century (the rest were Don Gass, José I. Barraquer, Charles D. Kelman, Edward Maumenee,  Harold Ridley, Ramon Castroviejo, Charles L. Schepens, Marshall M. Parks and Lorenz E Zimmerman.
For more ophthalmic eponyms visit the Doyne Hall of Fame.