Autobiography of a dead persons eyes

Promising nuggets in early scientific research can quickly take hold of the public imagination and continue to spread well past their sell-by date, a lesson we are all learning the hard way during this pandemic.

But this phenomenon is not new.

What Happens to the Eyes of a Dying Person?

Let me ask you this: do you believe the last thing someone sees before they die gets imprinted on their retinas? It turns out this idea is a myth... mostly.

The eye is often compared to a camera, and the retina at its back can be thought of as a sort of photographic film that can capture images and transmit them to the brain. The comparison is simplistic and when all you have is a hammer, all you see are nails.

In 1837, the first photographic process (known as a daguerreotype) was invented, followed thirteen years later by the ophthalmoscope, a device that allowed doctors to see through a patient’s pupil and inspect the back of their eye. So it makes sense that, in the following decades,