Peter Gouras
About Optica
In Memoriam: Peter Gouras, 1930 - 2021
28 January 2021
Peter Gouras, Optica Fellow (1978) and clinician-scientist, passed away on 8 January 2021 at the age of 90 in Germany. He was known for his groundbreaking work in clinical electrophysiology of the retina, elucidation of color vision, and retinal transplantation for the treatment of degenerative diseases.
Gouras was born in 1930 in Brooklyn, New York, to Greek and Irish parents. He received his bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD from Johns Hopkins University, followed by a surgical internship. By 1959, Gouras was recruited to join the National Institutes of Health under Ludwig von Sallmann. In 1971, he became the chief of the Neurophysiology Section of the newly founded National Eye Institute.
In 1978, Gouras moved back to New York to become Columbia University’s Professor of Ophthalmology in the Department of Ophthalmology. He started a cell biology laboratory that would revolutionize the understanding of how cone receptors adapt to light. That same year, he was elected a Fellow of Optica by the Board of Directors.
In addition to Optica, Gouras was a member of several scientific societies and committees, including The American Committee on Optics and Physiology, The Scientific Council of the National Retinitis Pigmentosa Foundation, The American Physiological Society and more. He also participated in the Editorial Boards of Vision Research and of Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences.
Gouras spent most of his life researching and innovating for 60 years. He assisted other young ophthalmologists in their electroretinogram (ERG) cases while he conducted electrophysiology experiments with mouse brains and analyzed electron micrographs of the retina for novel subcellular structures.
Outside of his scientific endeavors, Gouras enjoyed history, biology, politics, playing the accordion and singing folk songs.
Optica, the scientific community and his former students mourn his loss.
