An Eye Opening History Of Eyeglasses

The history of eyeglasses is a long one and very interesting indeed. Some of history's most influential characters were visually impaired to some degree.

Eyeglasses are simply a device we use to magnify images so we can see them easier and more clearly.

The history of eyeglasses starts in the 1st century AD, when a tutor to the Roman Emperor Nero used liquid filled globes to magnify small writing. It is also said that Nero made use of emeralds as corrective lenses to watch gladiators battle in the Coliseum.

Later on, in the 9th century, a man named Abbas Ibn Firnas came up with a way to make glass that was extremely clear and transparent. This glass also possessed qualities of magnification and were used that way. The glass could be shaped and formed into round orbs that came to be known as "reading stones".

But the earliest mention of convex lenses that magnified images was in a book written in 1021. The author was a man named Alhazen and the book was The Book of Optics. This written record was translated to Latin around the 12th century. That translation was a major contributor to the invention of eyeglasses in Italy at the turn of the 13th century.

"Wearable" Eyeglasses

A monk named Fra Giordano da Rivalto sermonized that eyeglasses were developed in 1285 and he had personally met the inventor. Then there is another monk of the Dominican order, that is purported as the inventor.

As you can see, legends and stories abound, but one thing is certain. We have been wondering at the effects that looking through glass has on vision for many thousands of years.

Many of the stories behind the scenes are shrouded in legend and myth, so it is hard to say exactly who the real inventor is.The fact is that somebody had the idea and expounded on it. The result was that billons of people since have enjoyed better, enhanced vision.

Originally, eyeglasses were made of flat glass and, thus, only useful for treatment of certain conditions. The poignant discovery of curved lenses, called concave, led to the expansion of that limitation.

Invention Of Bifocal Glasses

Another milestone in the history of eyeglasses was the invention of bifocal lenses in 1874, by an American inventor, Ben Franklin, so he didn't have to switch glasses for different reasons.

Now, he could go about his ordinary life without carrying two pairs of glasses; one for reading and one for everything else.

Eyeglasses have been around for hundreds, even thousands of years, now. Necessity brought about invention; invention brought about improvement. Down through the ages, eyeglasses have been an integral part of our human history and have improved the quality of life for many people.

Who actually DID invent them is irrelevant. What is relevant is that they were invented out of sheer human ingenuity.



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