John Wyatt was a devoted researcher who spent decades developing retinal implants to restore sight to people affected by age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa, the two leading causes of blindness worldwide. An expert in circuits, his work focused on developing a chip that could be implanted in the retina to transmit visual information to the optic nerve.

A native of Nashville, Tennessee, Wyatt received a BS from MIT in 1968, an MS from Princeton University 1970, and a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley in 1979, all in electrical engineering. He joined the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) faculty in 1979, and retired from MIT in June 2015.

John passed away at home in the company of his family on February 3, 2016. He was 69 years old.

Experience

• Co-Director

  Boston Retinal Implant Project