Herman Knapp Memorial Tablet

Bas-relief Bronze plaque of Dr. Herman Knapp, Founder of the New York Ophthalmic and Aural Institute, 1868

Sculptor: Lee Oscar Lawrie (1877-1963)

This plaque displays a profile of Herman Knapp (1832-1911). Born in Germany, Knapp obtained his MD at the University of Giessen in 1854 and became a professor at the University of Heidelberg. He studied with, and subsequently collaborated with ophthalmic giants Albrecht von Graefe (see his bust across the hall) in Berlin, and Franciscus Cornelis Donders (see his desk, further down the hallway) in Utrecht. In 1868 he emigrated to New York, where he founded the New York Ophthalmic and Aural Institute and was appointed as professor at the New York University Medical College. In 1888, he became professor of ophthalmology at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. In 1913, the hospital he had formed (then located at 57th St and 10th Ave, with his son Arnold as Director) was renamed “The Herman Knapp Memorial Eye Hospital,” and discontinued the care of otolaryngologic patients, to become the second hospital in the US devoted solely to eye care (Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia was the first). The hospital joined with Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in 1903, and by 1911 had been relocated and renamed as the Herman Knapp Memorial Eye Hospital at 10th Avenue and 57th Street, two blocks from P&S. The Eye staff held P&S appointments. In 1928, Presbyterian Hospital moved into new quarters on 168th Street and the Vanderbilt Clinic was also moved to the uptown location.

With Dr. Salomon Moos (German otologist), Knapp founded the “Archives of Ophthalmology and Otology” (volumes of which may be seen in the artifacts case down the hall). The journal subsequently split into ophthalmic and otolaryngology journals, and the “Archives of Ophthalmology” continues today as one of the pre-eminent eye journals. Knapp is credited with many original ophthalmic pathologic descriptions, the invention of numerous ophthalmic surgical instruments, and was instrumental in the field of physiological optics. Both his son, Arnold, and grandson, Phillip, became prominent ophthalmologists at the Eye Institute. Herman Knapp is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, as is Edward S. Harkness.

Architectural sculptor Lee Oscar Lawrie is best known for his work “Atlas,” located in Rockefeller Center.