This presentation was made to mark the 200th Anniversary of one of the first eye hospitals in London, Royal Westminster Infirmary for Diseases of the Eye. It was founded in 1816 and subsequently became part of Moorfields Eye Hospital. It tells the story of cataract surgery from that time through early ECCE to ICCE and ultimately phacoemulsification. It also relates the story of the intraocular lens from Ridley’s original surgery to the present day.