Not as Darth as it seems! Student’s ‘light sabre’ project to be used in cataract eye surgery
A woman who did her masters on the possibility of making a real life light sabre has had her project turned into a state-of-the-art instrument for helping people to recover from cataract surgery.
Aleksandra Fiszkiewicz from the Warsaw University of Technology, defended her master’s thesis in engineering entitled: “Assessment of the technical possibilities of creating a ‘light sabre’ from the ‘Star Wars’ universe.”
The light projected by the lens forms a beam 30-40 cm in length which scientists at the university are attempting to use it to create an innovative corneal implant for cataract patients.
When the university published her picture and a description of her master’s thesis on its website, jokes started flowing like: “What’s she doing for her doctorate? Building a Death Star?”
But the sabre Fiszkiewicz built contains an unusual lens created earlier by Warsaw University of Technology scientists back in 1990 for which the student has found a new use.
Fliszkiewicz told local news service Pionki24 that the lens can also benefit people affected by presbyopia — long-sightedness caused by loss of elasticity of the lens of the eye.
She has put it inside a hilt that she designed after analysing the Star Wars saga.
The light projected by the lens forms a beam 30-40 cm in length. It is not capable of cutting anything, like in the films, as it is too weak.
Fliszkiewicz put the lens inside a hilt that she designed after analysing the Star Wars saga.
But it has another attribute, as a research tool that is served by the special lens.
Because it does not light at a certain point but rather in a section, scientists at the University are attempting to use it to create an innovative corneal implant for cataract patients.
The 23-year-old from Pionki said she came up with the idea after watching I the eighth part of Star Wars and deciding she would like to do her engineering thesis on an “interesting topic rather than something boring like analyzing charts.”
Fiszkiewicz from Pionki told local news service Pionki24 that the lens can also benefit people affected by presbyopia — long-sightedness caused by loss of elasticity of the lens of the eye.
