Dr Eugen Hirst: Inventor

Dr Eugen Hirst

Inventor

by Yvonne Robinson (neé Hirst)

Dr Hirst was born in 1911 in Budapest (Hungary) the youngest of 4 children of Edward Hirschberger and Franciska (Stahler). He moved to Prague (Czechoslovakia) where he was on the staff of the University Dental Clinic as a dental technician. 

In 1939 he with his wife Jana (nee Tanzer) found safe haven in New Zealand away from the atrocities of the Nazi holocaust in Europe. He was immediately employed by Prosthetic Processes Ltd in Wellington where he remained for a short while before moving to Auckland, where he became manager and later partner of Prosthetic Processes Auckland. He volunteered for service during the war but was manpowered to remain in his essential occupation. 

Dr Hirst was clearly both a lateral thinker and an ‘early adopter’: in 1940 he introduced to New Zealand specialized crown, bridge and porcelain work and the Norwegian system of orthodontics; later in 1958 microbond, crown and bridge work techniques from America. He was honorary instructor in dental prosthetics to the RNZ Navy for over 15 years as well as founder and past President of the NZ Dental Laboratory Association. 

In 1943, Dr Hirst was approached by an Auckland ophthalmologist who asked him to make what became the first contact lens in New Zealand for a near-blind young woman. The combination of his experience in dental technique and in working with the clear acrylics developed for dentistry, meant that he was able to visualize how these could be applied to making contact lenses. 

This gave rise to the setting up of Hirst Contact Lens Limited in Auckland as an optical manufacturer and fitter of contact lenses. In 1950 he joined Mr Mortimer, an Optometrist, and founded the Mortimer and Hirst Optometry practice. 

In 1946 the NZ Government Social Security Department accepted contact lens as a medical aid and subsidised their cost, as certain pathological cases could not be helped otherwise. This was particularly helpful at that time to many World War II veterans who had experienced eye conditions following that war. NZ was the first country in the world to introduce this benefit. 

From the initial experience with contact lenses in 1943, Dr Hirst developed and made available to the people of NZ successive improvements in contact lens technology for nearly 40 years. In 1948 he developed corneal lenses, in 1968 hema and aspheric lenses, quickly followed by the Hirst aspheric toric soft lenses. In 1976 he developed bifocal hema lenses. 

Dr Hirst made license agreements with some of the biggest contact lens laboratories in the world, trained their technicians and supplied NZ-made machinery to manufacture aspheric contact lenses. Under various license agreements his contact lenses were manufactured and sold in Japan, England, 14 European countries, 7 Asian countries, South Africa and Canada. He established a contact lens manufacturing laboratory in Adelaide (Australia) in 1970 to produce aspheric contact lenses and later sold this interest to a multinational contact lens manufacturer. He continued as Managing Director of Hirst Contact Lens until its sale to NZ Optical in 1978. He retired as a partner of Mortimer and Hirst Opticians in 1985. 

He travelled widely, lecturing and addressing international conferences on contact lenses giving seminars at various universities throughout the world and won for NZ a reputation as a leader of contact lens design and practice. In 1946 he was appointed in an honorary capacity to be in charge of the Auckland Hospital Contact Lens Clinic where he served for 33 years. In 1950 he published in NZ one of the first contact lens journals in the world. Many of his articles were published in international contact lens journals. 

In 1980 Dr Hirst was honoured by the International Optometric Honours Fraternity USA and elected as a member of the Beta Sigma Kappa, with an Honorary Doctorate of Ocular Science by the American Optometric Association. This was the first time in 10 years that the honour had been bestowed. He was also awarded the high honour of OBE in 1981 for his services to the Jewish Community and Contact Lens development. 

The NZ Optical Association at a conference in October 1988 honoured him for the part he had played as Chairman of the Optometric Vision Research Foundation Appeal which raised more than $400,000 for research in NZ and enabled a Chair of Optics to be established at Auckland University in 1990. 

Dr Hirst’s great passion was Zionism. His deep affection and active support of Israel were made known to all his friends and associates in every aspect of his life:

“He was responsible for the buying of an old house in Parnell to use both as headquarters for the society and as a maon for Habonim. Only the single mindedness of Gene achieved this and it was this same dogged determination that not only saw the purchase of the house and land next door, but also its conversion into 2 apartments with one set aside to accommodate shlichim and the other for outside rental.”( Ernest Markham, Jewish Chronicle, 1989). 

“Gene was an active Zionist in the true sense of the word. During his terms of office as President, the members of Federation had to be led through the transition from an active voluntary organization to the change of administration being handled by staff at the Zionist and NZ Information Office. Emergency appeals had to be conducted, public relations as always was to be a vital part of the Federation’s work.” (Wellington Zionist Society President’s Report, Conference May 1989). 

Dr Hirst was an honorary life Vice President of the NZ Zionist Federation, Vice President Auckland Zionist Society, President Zionist Federation NZ 1960-1964 and 1968-1972, President Auckland Zionist Society 1956-1960, President Karen Hayesod 1952-1960. 

Dr Hirst was also very active in the setting up of the Jewish Kindergarten and Jewish Day School when such ideas were considered unacceptable and ‘ghetto forming’ by many members of the community. 

In 1964 he was appointed Justice of the Peace and in 1970 became a Rotarian. Tennis was his recreational love and he was a life member and Patron of the Ngatira Tennis Club. He was also a member of the Remuera Bowling Club and the Auckland Bridge Club. 

‘Gene Hirst will be remembered as a family man, inventor, sportsman, traveller and craftsman. Whatever he did he did with all his heart.” (Alan Bott, NZ Optics, 1989). 

Dr Eugen Hirst (1911 -1989) is survived by his daughter Yvonne and her husband David Robinson. They have 2 sons: Michael, married to Caroline (nee Boyd; Edward married to Natalie (nee Hogan); and 6 grandchildren: Nicholas, Jemma, Louis, Theo, William and Ari, all living in Auckland.