What if you could flip a switch and restore vision to a blind person? It sounds near-miraculous. And, yet, since the 1970s scientists have been trying to do just that. If they succeed, it won’t be a miracle. It will be a triumph of neuroscience and technology.

William Dobelle created the first “bionic eye” technology roughly four decades ago. Comprised of a tiny camera mounted in eyeglasses, a portable computer, and electrodes implanted in brain, the “Dobelle Eye” in effect used technology to mimic the electrical stimulation from the retina and optic nerve that results in vision. Read More