Person

Chance, Burton, 1868-

1868-1965

Burton Chance was a practicing ophthalmologist and notable historian of ophthalmology who was born in 1868. He received his medical degree from the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1893. He began his residency at Wills Eye Hospital in 1894 and was the Chief Surgeon from 1916 until 1933 when he withdrew consulting status. During the intervening years, he became the Assistant Dispensary Surgeon at the Eye Dispensary of the University of Pennsylvania in 1895 and served as Physician-in-Charge of the Children's Department at St. Joseph's Hospital from 1895 to to 1898. In 1899, He became Assistant Surgeon at Wills Eye Hospital and opened his private practice. He was Ophthalmic Surgeon to the Pennsylvania Railroad and Ophthalmologist to the Germantown Dispensary and Hospital in 1909.

He had a personal interest in colour blindness due to two colour-blind uncles. He served as a consulting editor at the American Journal of Ophthalmology and authored over 250 publications, including case studies of neoplasms and colour blindness in addition to articles on biography and medical history. He became a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia in 1900 and was active in its Section on Ophthalmology. He wrote several books, including "Ophthalmology" (1939) and "Early printing of medical books..." (1948).

https://www.aao.org/senior-ophthalmologists/scope/article/burton-chance-ophthalmic-historian http://cpparchives.org/repositories/2/resources/69
The Record, University of Pennsylvania Yearbook, 1890, p. 237.
LOC "Chronicling America" newspaper records
Albert, D. M. (2017) Lunch with a Legend: The Time I Met Ophthalmic Historian Burton Chance
Description from Collection on the Ophthalmological Society of the United Kingdom, 1924-1935. (OCN 122632954)