Jacques Rodolphe Edmund Landolt (17 May 1846 – 9 May 1926) was a Swiss ophthalmologist stationed in Paris, mostly known for a wide range of publications and his research in the field of ophthalmology.

First years

Edmund Landolt was born in Kirchberg, Switzerland, of a French mother, Rosina Baumgartner, and Swiss father, Rudolf Landolt. He came to France during the war in 1871 with a Swiss ambulance hospital, and was present at the battles around Belfort, where he contracted enteric fever.

Study and work

Studied at University of Zurich where he got a Ph.D. in 1869 and was through this time and later pupil of Knapp in Heidelberg, Ferdinand Arlt in Vienna, Von Graefe and Helmholtz in Berlin, Horner in Zürich, and Snellen and Donders in Utrecht. Worked in physiological optics with, among others, Snellen and Donders. After study and practice in Utrecht and Germany he established himself in Paris in 1874 where he became oculist to the Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles. With Panas (1832–1903) and Poncet (1849–1913) he re-founded the Archives d'ophtalmologie in 1881 and co-directed the Laboratoire d’Ophtalmologie with Javal. Landolt's eye clinic on the Rue Saint-André-des-Arts was world-famous. There he treated, among others, Mary Cassatt, and gave her a diagnosis of cataracts.

Special fields of work

Ocular muscles and their disorders. Pioneering the work in their study and treatment. He discovered “Landolt's bodies” between the rods and cones of the outer nuclear layer of the retina, investigated the functions of the ocular muscles and devised a new advancement operation. Famous for his publication of Landolt C.

Publications

English

French

Family

Married Valerie Hübscher. Two sons; Dr. Fernand Landolt, laryngologist and Dr. Marc Landolt, ophthalmologist.

Curiosity

He is mentioned in Sherlock Holmes' book The Demon Device (Robert Saffron) p. 44. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle spent time with him in Paris in relation to his study in ophthalmology in Vienna.

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