Tadini was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 and itinerant ophthalmologist

Ophthalmology

Ophthalmology is the branch of medicine that deals with the anatomy, physiology and diseases of the eye. An ophthalmologist is a specialist in medical and surgical eye problems...

 who lived in the second half of the 18th century. Advertisements in old newspapers testify to the fact that he performed eye operations in many towns in Europe, including Lübeck and Ghent. Tadini had a box containing artificial lenses

Lens (anatomy)

The crystalline lens is a transparent, biconvex structure in the eye that, along with the cornea, helps to refract light to be focused on the retina. The lens, by changing shape, functions to change the focal distance of the eye so that it can focus on objects at various distances, thus allowing a...

 made of glass, which he showed to Giacomo Casanova

Giacomo Casanova

Giacomo Girolamo Casanova de Seingalt was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, Histoire de ma vie , is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century...

. It is therefore probable that Tadini first conceived the idea of intraocular correction of aphakia. Presumably Casanova conveyed the idea to Casaamata, an ophthalmic surgeon in Dresden. At any rate, Casaamata was the first to actually attempt the correction of aphakia by implanting a lens.