Nowadays the glasses have become such a widespread and habitual thing that hardly one can imagine their absence in everyday life. This essential invention helped people dealing with impaired vision live their life to the fullest extent.
There are many theories regarding the invention of glasses, yet we are going to consider only the most credible ones. So, who was the first to invent eye glasses?
Apparently the first glasses for permanent usage were invented in Italy. They were contrived and eventually made by Salfino D’Armato, a glassmaker, in around 1285. Nearly at the same time another Italian, a monk from Pisa, invented his first pair of glasses, making his invention public and famous. The debates around the authorship continued for a long time, but still remained a useless quarrel.
Beginning from the year of 1300, the spectacles have become popular in Italy, and after a couple of years their popularity expanded to Europe and the Eastern countries.
According to the sources, the glassmaker, who invented the glasses, accidentally noticed a drop of stiffened glass. When he took a closer look, he found out that the glass is capable to enlarge the sizes of objects around him, and that capability can be used in correcting the impaired vision. The first lenses were convex and used in correcting hyperopia. In order to protect the edges of the lens from shears the glassmakers invented specialized frame.
Concave lens used for correcting myopia were invented in the XV century in Germany. As regards bifocal glasses, combining both convex and concave lenses, they were invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1775.
The first models of glasses didn’t have prop, they were worn directly on nasal bridge. Later, the glassmakers added specific handle with a pin resembling scissors to the frame, which allowed secure the lens on the nose. Afterwards people tied the frame with a thin rope and securing it behind the ears. Modern spectacles which are worn on the nose and ears were created only in the XVIII Century
Throughout many decades the glasses were being improved from both technical and constructive point of view. Modern glasses have become not only an important optical device, but a stylish accessory as well.