Patricia E. Bath

What they did

Bath invented the Laserphaco Probe, which uses laser energy to ablate and irrigate away a cataractous lens, and founded the discipline of community ophthalmology.

Historical context

Cataract removal relied on mechanical grinding. Bath had also documented that blindness rates among Black patients in Harlem were roughly double those at a nearby clinic — access, not biology.

The legacy

First Black woman physician to receive a US patent for a medical device; her probe restored sight to patients blind for decades.

The evidence

• US Patent 4,744,360 — Apparatus for ablating and removing cataract lenses

  Patent record · United States Patent Office

• Patricia Bath biographical records

  Government archive · US National Library of Medicine, Changing the Face of Medicine