Philipp Franz von Walther (3 January 1782 – 29 December 1849) was a German surgeon and ophthalmologist.

Biography

He was born in Burrweiler. He studied medicine in Vienna under Georg Joseph Beer and Johann Peter Frank, obtaining his medical doctorate in 1803 from the University of Landshut. He subsequently served as a professor at the Universities of Bamberg, Landshut, Bonn (1818–1830), and Munich. Among his better known students were Johannes Peter Müller (1801–1858) at Bonn, and Johann Lukas Schönlein (1793–1864) and Cajetan von Textor (1782–1860) at Landshut. Walther is best known for his pioneer work in ophthalmology and ophthalmic surgery. In 1826 he described the first tarsorrhaphy for closure of a portion of the eyelids for partial ectropion. In the treatise Ueber die Hornhautflecken, he gave an early account of corneal opacity. With Karl Ferdinand von Gräfe (1787–1840), he was co-editor of Journal der Chirurgie und Augenheilkunde, an influential journal of surgery and ophthalmology. Walther is credited with performing numerous experiments involving medical galvanism. He died in Munich.

Selected works