The History of Neuro-Ophthalmology
Neuro-Ophthalmology is a relatively newly recognised medical subspeciality, although the connection between the eye and the nervous system has long been recognised.
Alemaeon in 500 years B.C.E. proposed the relationship between the brain and the eyes, and around 400 B.C.E. Hippocrates noted the phenomenon of visual aura preceding migraine, but it was only in the early part of the 20th century that Neuro-Ophthalmology became recognised as a subspecialty unto itself, with seminal texts emerging in the mid part of the 20th century.
1000 C.E. Alhazen: images from lens => hollow optic nerves => chiasm, brain
Neetens "the definite birth of neuro-ophthalmology” 1400s Leonardo da Vinci suggested visual stimuli => brain for representation/reasoning/memory.
Kepler (1571–1630) queried whether the eyes or brain are used for sight
Descartes (1596–1650) recognised retina is the connector for visual stimuli to the brain.