Like all good word and term origin stories, optometry is
claimed by many founding fathers.
Many agree that the word itself originated in 1731, when Scottish physician
William Porterfield created what he called an optometer to carry out Christopher Scheiner's
refraction measurement experiment. More than 150 years
later, in 1886 both the optometer and optometry appeared by the Swiss
ophthalmologist Edmund Landolt in his textbook entitled “The Refraction and
Accommodation of the Eye and Their Anomalies”.
br>Around that time – the late 1800s – opticians performing
refraction took on the role of separating themselves from opticians (dispensing
opticians) and felt the desire to rename their newborn profession.
>Always a proponent of change, one publication played a key role in an early
effort to force the profession's name change.
In 1895, the first issue of the newly renamed Optical Journal featured an
article by RH Knowles, MD , in which he states, "The instrument used to
determine eye defects is called an optometer" and "the science of
using this instrument is called optometry.
A few years later in 1899, Frederick Boger, founder and editor of The Optical
Journal, became the first to push for the adoption of the title optometry. "While the term
optical fully embraces all the branches in which opticians are now engaged,
the new profession should adopt some other title distinct for those
distinguished," wrote Mr. Boger. "The word optometry has recently come into vogue
and seems to be popular and appropriate in this case."
Four years later, the term was officially adopted by the American Optometric
Association (AOA). As recorded by a 1938 article in The Optical Journal,
Dr. Emanuel Klein coined the term optometrist sometime before 1902 as an
alternative to optician, which term had also been advocated by Dr. Charles Prentice.
Dr. John C. Eberhardt then suggested to his friend Dr. John C. Eberhardt to introduce a motion to adopt optometry and the optometrist at the 1903 AOA convention in Atlantic City. The motion was postponed until next year's conference, during which Dr. Eberhardt, being AOA president, brought it back for
approval. "A long discussion ensued but ended with the unanimous adoption of the
two words," along with their associated definitions.

In 1941, Dr. John Jarvis, then director of the AOA's public relations department,
said regarding the vote. “I understand that Eberhardt was trained as an
engineer. He was the type of mind in love with precision, so he
looked up a Greek root for the word.
During an AOA convention in Rochester, New York, the
attendees were required to state their occupation their. "I'm more
than an optician, but I don't like the term optometrist," Dr. Prentice told Dr. Jarvis.
"I think that's more accurate and understandable," he stated as he ticked optician
next to his name.
A Greek reader of this magazine pointed out in a 1938 letter to
the editor that opto in classical Greek means "to see" and thus optometrist,
strictly speaking, means "to see measurements." Better terms, he said, would be
optometry and optometrist, although he also found these unsatisfactory. visual defects of the
eye' through knowledge of a science. Opticology and optician – or optico, for short –
the writer of the letter felt were more correct terms to include
the scope and skills of the profession.
Of course, the Optical Journal and Review of Optometry continued to play
a decisive role in the spread of the new term. A 1941 article admits that while
credit for naming the profession belongs to others, the journal deserves a
place among the founders as well: "the actual credit for finally approving the
title" Optometrist , much credit must be given to Boger.” Mr. Boger had
promoted the term optometry again in June 1904, stating that the name had
already been settled prior to its adoption by the AOA. His proof? Minnesota,
California, and North Dakota were the first three states to enact laws
governing the practice and use the term optometrist.

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https://www.reviewofoptometry.com/article/we-shall-be-known-as-optometrists