History of the Tiresias website

Information needs of professionals have changed significantly over the last few years. Information resources are changing rapidly too to meet these needs. To reflect this we recognised that our information service had to evolve in order to satisfy these needs by moving, but still retaining a link, from the more traditional book and paper to electronic media.

The information that can be found at www.tiresias.org initially started life 30 years ago in printed form and evolved from work carried out by Dr. Janet Silver formerly of Moorfields Eye Hospital and Dr. John Gill, Chief Scientist of the RNIB in London.

The World Wide Web offers exciting possibilities for accessing large quantities of information, so with the support of the Department of Health, this information was made available on the web in 1995. The site is maintained and developed under the direction of Dr. Gill at the RNIB Scientific Research Unit.

The visitors to this site are mainly made up of those interested in research and development but are not necessarily research workers. Over 4.5 million hits are received a year.

Current information available on-line adds up to over 2,300 pages of information. Our search engine allows you to search for a specific word or words or an exact phrase, these can be searched within the title, body etc and the search can be narrowed down to specific dates if you so wish.

Why the name Tiresias?

According to myth, Tiresias was a blind prophet from Thebes. He was the son of a nymph, Chariclo, and a descendent of one of the Spartoi. He was a follower of the goddess Athena. It is said that he lived for seven generations, and went on to give prophecies in the realm of the dead. According to the poet Ovid, Hera became angry at Tiresias and robbed him of his sight. But in return, Zeus granted him knowledge of the future. In other versions, he is blinded by the goddess Athena and given the gift of prophecy.