Sir Nicholas Harold Lloyd Ridley was an English ophthalmologist who pioneered artificial intraocular lens placement following cataract surgery.
This came after working in the Royal Air Force with casualties from World War II. Ridley noted that pieces of PMMA from the aircraft cockpit canopies that became lodged in the eyes of wounded pilots did not trigger rejection.
On November 29, 1949 at St Thomas' Hospital, Harold Ridley achieved the first implant of an IOL. However, its was not until 1950 that he left an IOL permanently in place in an eye.
