Gerhard Rudolph Edmund Meyer-Schwickerath’s (1920–1992) vision of the “trapped sun” changed ophthalmic history. He was the first to use sunlight for eye surgery. His ideas on the revolutionary technique of using light as a therapeutic tool in diseases of the retina made Meyer-Schwickerath world famous. In 1949, he invented a treatment, which made noninvasive surgery of the retina possible for the first time using sunlight to coagulate injuries of the retina. Ongoing research has led to significant laser surgery techniques.