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See Into The Past: The Fascinating History Of Eyeglasses

Seeing someone wearing eyeglasses today is just as common as seeing a person wearing a scarf during the winter time. Glasses are a tool that provides vision to most people, regardless of prescription or eye shape. But it wasn’t always this way.

The development of glasses as a common treatment for imperfect eyesight took centuries, with many brilliant innovators paving the path to the perfect vision you get to enjoy today. Have you ever wondered about the primary technology behind spectacles? Here’s a glance into the history that now allows millions of people to read, drive, perform surgery, and accurately shoot a gun.

EARLY GLASSES

The first inventor of wearable glasses is unknown. However, the Romans first discovered the ability to use to glass to enhance their ability to see small text, creating small magnifying glasses with spheres.

The first wearable glasses known to history appeared in Italy during the 13th century. Primitive glass-blown lenses were set into wooden or leather frames (or occasionally, frames made from animal horn) and then held before the face or perched on the nose. Mostly used by monks, these grew in popularity and the technology improved through the Renaissance.

Artwork remains the best testament that these glasses existed, as early Renaissance paintings sometimes depict scholars using handheld frames or perch-style glasses.

Glass blowers would make lenses of different thickness based on rudimentary vision testing. As these glasses became more popular, the Italian creations spread throughout Europe, mostly available to the wealthy. Because scholarship was a prized attribute during the Renaissance, glasses were status symbols of intelligence and prosperity.

The technology might have remained stagnant for several centuries, because the next clear historical picture of spectacles comes during the 1700s. Glasses grew to be “hands free” with the development of temples to extend over the ears.

Perhaps the most famous of these more modern glasses include “Martin’s Margins,” spectacles developed by the inventor Benjamin Martin. These glasses are sold as collector’s items today, but they pioneered the pursuit for more accurate lens development and thinner lenses supported by durable frames.