Saturday, June 12, 2010

TRIVIA BITS ... EYE GLASSES

TRIVIA BITS ...

EYE GLASSES

old-style-glasses.jpg

Eyeglasses are lenses set in frames for wearing in front of the eyes to aid vision or correct such defects of vision as myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism.

Although Nero used emerald-colored lenses to view the gladiator games in A.D. 60, it's questionable whether he could actually see better.

The first "reading glass" was developed around A.D. 1000 but was more of a magnifying glass than an eyeglass.

In Europe, eyeglasses first appeared in Italy during the 13th century, their introduction being attributed to Alessandro di Spina of Florence.

The first portrait to show eyeglasses is that of Hugh of Provence by Tommaso da Modena, painted in 1352.

Hugh_specs

In 1784, Benjamin Franklin invented bifocals with lenses for distant and near vision.

ben-franklin-bifocals bifocals

No comments:

Post a Comment