In an age where we complain about slow Wi-Fi, let’s remember Dr. Evelyn Claire Bath—a woman who refused to let the world stay blurry.
She wasn’t just a doctor. She was a pioneer, a humanitarian, and a mother. In an era where Black women were systematically excluded from the highest echelons of science, Bath walked into the operating room, picked up a laser, and quite literally saw a different future. The story goes that during a fellowship at Columbia University, Bath noticed a stark disparity. In the wards at Harlem Hospital, many patients were blind or severely visually impaired. At the eye clinic at Columbia, which served a wealthier population, blindness was rare. evelyn claire bath
The answer wasn't biology; it was access. The patients in Harlem had less access to preventative care and cataract surgery. This social injustice sparked a dual passion in Bath: curing blindness and democratizing eye care. In 1981, Dr. Bath began work on something that science fiction writers hadn't even imagined yet: a device to remove cataracts using a laser. In an age where we complain about slow