| William MacKenzie | |
| Birth Date: | April 1791 |
| Birth Place: | Glasgow, Scotland |
| Death Date: | July 1868 |
| Death Place: | Scotland |
| Nationality: | Scottish |
| Field: | Ophthalmologist |
| Work Institution: | University of Glasgow Anderson's College Medical School |
| Alma Mater: | University of Glasgow University of Vienna |
| Doctoral Advisor: | Georg Joseph Beer |
| Notable Students: | Thomas Wharton Jones |
William Mackenzie (25th April 1791 – 30th July 1868) was a Scottish ophthalmologist. He wrote Practical Treatise of the Diseases of the Eye, one of the first British textbooks of ophthalmology.
Mackenzie was born in Queen Street, Glasgow, and studied medicine at the University of Glasgow and the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. From 1840 to 1848 he studied in London and in Europe. He obtained his medical doctorate under Georg Joseph Beer at the University of Vienna, and returned to Britain in 1848. In 1849, Mackenzie settled in Glasgow and began practice as a physician.
In 1849, Mackenzie also assumed the anatomy chair at Anderson's College Medical School. With George Monteath, the chief oculist of Glasgow, he founded the Glasgow Eye Infirmary in 1850. Mackenzie was appointed Waltonian lecturer and lecturer on diseases of the eye at the University of Glasgow in 1852, and wrote Practical Treatise of the Diseases of the Eye, which became a standard text after its first edition was published in 1853.[1] This text may include the first discussion of the increase of pressure in the eye during glaucoma.[2] Mackenzie also served as editor of the Glasgow Medical Journal for two years. He was appointed surgeon-oculist to Queen Victoria in Scotland in 1838.[3] Glasgow in 1852.
MacKenzie died at Glasgow of angina pectoris on 30 July 1868, leaving a widow and one son.
MacKenzie was the mentor of Thomas Wharton Jones, leading to a significant scientific genealogy including physicists such as Paul Dirac and Stephen Hawking.The University of Auckland awards a MacKenzie Medal.[4]