Irving Fatt was born in
Chicago
and began his studies at the California Institute of Technology before serving
in the US Air Force between 1942 and 1946.He
completed a degree in chemistry in 1947 and gained his PhD in 1955.He joined the faculty at
Berkeley
University
in 1957.
Although Irving Fatt is best known in the
UK
for his work on contact lenses and physiological optics, he had distinguished
careers in the US
in chemistry and in petroleum, mechanical and bio-engineering.His seminal work in the 1970s on developing methods to measure oxygen
tension produced the universally recognised unit for oxygen permeability which
bears his name.This was a natural
progression from earlier studies of oxygen transport in blood and diffusion
coefficients in haemoglobin.His
concepts gave the contact lens industry the rationale to develop successful
modern gas-permeable and soft lens materials.
He lived in
London
in the 1970s and 1980s and much of his research work was carried out with
Jennifer Chaston at
St Thomas' and Judith Morris at Moorfields hospitals.The original polarographic cell, which was used for ground-breaking
studies on oxygen tension, is now in the Contact Lens Collection of the College
of Optometrists Museum.Whilst in
the
UK
he was an editorial consultant to The
Optician and lectured extensively, becoming a familiar figure at most
contact lens meetings.
The
polaragraphic cell used by Irving Fatt
Fatt produced over 200 publications and several patents.Amongst his numerous honours were the Charles F. Prentice Award, the
Founders Award from the
American
Academy
of Optometry, the Herschel Medal of the ISCLS in 1995, the Ruben Medal of the
International Society for Contact Lens Research, a Gold Medal from the
Association of Contact Lens Manufacturers and the BCLA Medal from the British
Contact Lens Association in 1994. The first Irving Fatt Memorial lecture of the
BCLA was given in 1997 by Dr Philip Morgan.
'Oxygen tension under an
oxygen-permeable contact lens', with St Helen, R., Am. J. Optom.,48,
545-555, 1971.
The
Polarographic Oxygen Sensor,
Cleveland
1976.
'A rational method for the design
of gas-permeable soft contact lenses'.Optician,
173 (4470):10, 1977.
Physiology of the Eye,
London
1978.
'Relationship of oxygen
transmissibility to oxygen tension or E.O.P. under the lens', with Chaston, J., Int.
Contact Lens Clin.9, 119-120,
1982
'Measurement
of the Permalens Back Radius', Optician172 (4449) 25 - 28 1976 (with Morris,
J. and Chaston J.)
'Changes
in Oxygen Permeability during wear of continuous wear soft lenses', Optician173 (4478) 15 1977 (with Ruben, M. and Morris J.)
'Oxygen
transmissibility changes of gel contact lenses during wear', Optician174 (4505) 17 - 20 1977 (with Morris, J.)
'A survey
of Gas-Permeable contact lenses', Optician174 (4509) 27 - 36 1977 (with Morris
J.)
