Frans Cornelis Donders was born in Tilburg, Holland, 27th May, 1818 he studied medicine and graduated from the 
University of Leyden in 1840 to become an army surgeon. His prime interest, however, was diseases of the eyes, 
and in 1848 he was appointed Professor of  Ophthalmology at the university of Utrecht. There he wrote his best 
known book ‘anomalies of Refraction and Accommodation’, published in 1864, and being the result of his 
experiences in the Netherlansch Gasthuis voor Oogenleiden (Eye clinic) which he has established in 1851. 
Eponymically he is remembered by Donders’ curve of accommodation, Donders’ simple glaucoma, Donders’ 
rings in glaucoma, Donders’ law of rotation of the eyeballs and Donders’ scheme to measure the pressure of the 
post-mortem thorax. His studies made possible the use of cylindric and prismatic lenses for spectacles in the 
correction of astigmatism.