WBAY TV:
Filar developed a specialized digital eye camera that attaches to a scope doctors use to look into a patient’s eyes. It plugs into a computer and takes pictures or video, “and I can actually see the inside of the eye here.”
Filar says he had the idea for a portable device like this in his head for years, thinking it would be great for use in remote areas by the military, mission workers, even himself during visits to nursing homes.
Filar finally got serious about it last January. By April he had a working model ready to market.
But he never dreamt of receiving a call like the one earlier this month.
It was NASA on the phone and in less than 21 months, an invention by Wisconsin optometrist has gone from an idea in his head to being used by NASA on the space station.