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Carl Wilhelm von Zehender (May 21, 1819 – December 19, 1916) was a German ophthalmologist born in Bremen.
He studied medicine at the universities of Göttingen, Jena and Kiel, receiving his doctorate in 1845. He studied ophthalmology in Paris as a pupil of Louis-Auguste Desmarres, then furthered his education in Prague, Vienna and Berlin. He worked at an ophthalmic practice in Neustrelitz, and in 1862 was named a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Bern. From 1866 to 1889 he was a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Rostock (rector 1875/76), then afterwards he relocated to Munich, where he remained until 1907. He died in Rostock in 1916 at the age of 97.
Zehender is considered a pioneer of ophthalmic microsurgery, as in 1886 he introduced the practice of using a compound binocular vision instrument for ophthalmologic examination.
He was a founder and editor (1863-1899) of the ophthalmic journal Klinische Monatsblaetter fur Augenheilkunde, and was instrumental in the creation of the Heidelberger Ophthalmologische Gesellschaft, which was predecessor to the Deutsche Ophthalmologische Gesellschaft.
