Ludwig Laqueur

Ludwig Laqueur (25 July 1839 – 20 April 1909) was a German ophthalmologist born in Festenberg, Silesia.

From 1863 to 1869 he worked as an assistant at Richard Liebreich's ophthalmological hospital in Paris.

Laqueur is remembered for his research of physostigmine, a chemical substance found in the Calabar bean (Physostigma venenosa) of West Africa.

Laqueur noticed that extracts of the Calabar bean significantly lowered intraocular pressure.

He could attest to these results first-hand, because Laqueur suffered from glaucoma, a fact that was kept secret from his medical colleagues until after his death.