Aniseikonia

Aniseikonia is Greek for "unequal images" and the name of a vision disorder the Dartmouth Eye Institute uncovered in 1938. Researchers learned that each eye of an aniseikonia patient sends a slightly different image to the brain, which in turn tries to compensate resulting in headaches, fuzzy vision, and motion sickness.

The Dartmouth researchers invented glasses to correct the disorder, and an instituterun clinic diagnosed and fitted patients with glasses. Over the next several years the institute devised a single lens that could correct six different eye defects, and it established a link between the results of eye exams and scholastic performance.(Researchers used the Dartmouth class of 1940 as subjects.)

Despite this success, acrimony grew between ambitious institute staffers who wanted to create a leading research and ophthalmic center on campus, and College administrators who wanted to keep things small. The administration won: in 1947, the institute was closed.

Dartmouth brought eye researchers a new image.