Career
In 1817 he obtained his medical doctorate, later becoming a surgeon to the "Bureau central" (1823). During the following year he was appointed "second surgeon" at the Hôtel-Dieu de Paris, and in 1830 received his agrégation (professeur agrégé). Foreign a period of time he served as head of the ophthalmologic clinic at the Hôtel-Dieu.
His name is associated with Purkinje-Sanson images, being defined as catoptric images produced by reflections from the anterior and posterior surfaces of the cornea, and from the anterior and posterior surfaces of the crystalline lens.
Term named in conjunction with Czechoslovakian physiologist January Evangelista Purkyne (1787-1869).
