Ultraviolet Light Healing

The physician who won a Nobel Prize for using light to treat diseases, particularly a form of skin tuberculosis, was Niels Ryberg Finsen

. He was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Key details of Finsen’s work:

The award: Finsen won the prize “in recognition of his contribution to the treatment of diseases, especially lupus vulgaris, with concentrated light radiation, whereby he has opened a new avenue for medical science”.
His motivation: Suffering from a debilitating metabolic disease, Finsen noticed that sunlight made him feel more energetic, which inspired his research into the medical effects of light.
His invention: Finsen developed a carbon arc lamp, known as the “Finsen light,” to produce concentrated light.
His discovery: He found that concentrated ultraviolet (UV) light had a bactericidal effect and used it to treat patients with lupus vulgaris, a disfiguring skin form of tuberculosis caused by bacteria.
The Finsen Institute: The Medical Light Institute was founded in Copenhagen in 1896 to further his research. Later renamed the Finsen Institute, it became a center for phototherapy.
Legacy: While his light therapy was eventually supplanted by antibiotics, Finsen’s work is considered a cornerstone of modern phototherapy, which is still used today to treat skin conditions like psoriasis and eczema.