Alfred Vogt

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Alfred Vogt (31 October 1879 – 10 December 1943) was a Swiss ophthalmologist who advanced eye surgery and diagnostic techniques. He helped develop retinoscopy and improved treatment for retinal detachment.

Vogt was born in Burg near Menziken, Aargau, to Jakob Vogt, a primary school teacher, and Elise Koch. He studied at the University of Zürich and the University of Basel, earning his medical doctorate from Basel in 1904. After training with Karl Mellinger in Basel, he began private practice in 1906.

In 1909 Vogt became head physician of the ophthalmology department at the cantonal hospital in Aarau. He later joined academia: in 1917 he was named professor extraordinarius and director of the University of Basel eye clinic, and in 1923 he became professor ordinarius and director of the University of Zurich eye clinic.

Vogt was a pioneer of specular microscopy. Around 1913 he used a slit lamp with a corneal microscope to study the eye’s front structures, and in 1918 he performed the first direct examination of the corneal endothelium. He also introduced perforating cyclodiathermy for glaucoma in 1936.

He married Marie Bossart in 1906, and they had two daughters. Vogt died in Zürich on 10 December 1943.