off-Broadway musicals. Early life and education Charles David Kelman was born on May 23, 1930, in Brooklyn, New York, to Eva and David Kelman. He grew up in East New York before the family moved to Forest Hills, Queens. His father was a Jewish immigrant from Greece who never received the proper compensation and recognition for his inventions, including the first tar-free cigarettes and cellophane Christmas wreaths. He inspired his son's desire to proudly seek recognition of his own inventions. Charles began playing music at four years old, when he learned to play his first instrument, the harmonica. He began playing regularly for The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour radio show. Kelman also learned to play the saxophone and clarinet, receiving professional training from musicians in the big band era. While attending Forest Hills High School, he played in the high school band and as the first clarinet of the New York All-City Orchestra. He dreamed of stardom in music, however, he said that, when he was 17 years old, his father told him to bring his saxophone to the basement of their house and play for him. Charles played a song by Jimmy Dorsey after which his father asked if he had played as well as Dorsey. When Charles admitted he had not, his father announced: "You'll be a doctor." Kelman attended Boston's Tufts University and graduated in just two years to earn a B.S. degree in 1950. He then studied medicine at the University of Geneva and, after learning that his father was diagnosed with cancer, accelerated his studies with the hope of having his father see him becoming a doctor. He obtained his M.D. degree in 1956, but not before his father's death the year before. After interning at Kings County Hospital, he did his residency at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. Career As an ophthalmologist and surgeon In 1960, Kelman started an ophthalmology private practice and began to experiment with the use of cryosurgery. His first invention in 1962 was the cryoprobe which he used to freeze a cataractous lens before removal in intracapsular cataract extraction (ICCE), which removed the lens with the capsule intact. While the technique has not been in heavy use since 1978 and the advent of other techniques such as extracapsular cataract surgery (ECCE) which Kelman helped develop, ICCE remains a viable surgical option. In 1963, Kelman then developed the use of