And do you know who's on the main Google page today?

Otto Wichterle, the inventor of contact lenses, is honoured by the search giant. When visiting the website, users are greeted by an animated figure studying contact lenses, which, when clicked on, brings up Otto Wichterle's results page. 

The Czech-born chemist was born in Prostějov, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, on 27 October 1913, just 108 years ago. After graduating from Prostějov High School, Wichterle studied at the Czech Technical University of Chemistry and Technology but also medicine, and the interested in.

For political reasons, he was forced to leave the Prague University of Technology for a time, and in 1942 he was imprisoned by the Gestapo, only to be released after a few months. From then on, the chemist devoted his time to the study of hydrogels, with the aim of finding a substance that could be used in permanent contact with living tissue. Wichterle himself was a spectacle wearer, and he created his first contact lens using a device he had made himself. The early experimental lenses were called Geltakt, and the later production lenses were named Spofalens after the state-owned company that produced them, SPOFA.

In 1990, he was elected President of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and in 1993 he was awarded the title of Honorary President of the Czech Academy of Sciences. His research has helped to pave the way for cutting-edge medical technologies, including the creation of "smart" biomaterials that play a major role in the repair of connective tissues.

Otto Wichterle died in the Czech Republic on 18 August 1998.