Editing Glasses (section)

== History ==
=== Precursors ===
{{See|Reading stone}}

Scattered evidence exists for use of visual aid devices in Greek and Roman times, most prominently the use of an emerald by [[Nero|Emperor Nero]] as mentioned by [[Pliny the Elder]].<ref>Pliny the Elder. ''The Natural History'', Book 37, Chpt.16. John Bostock and H. T. Riley, translators. London: Taylor and Francis. 1855</ref>

The use of a [[Lens (optics)|convex lens]] to form an enlarged/magnified image was most likely described in [[Ptolemy]]'s ''[[Optics (Ptolemy)|Optics]]'' (which survives only in a poor Arabic translation). Ptolemy's description of lenses was commented upon and improved by [[Ibn Sahl (mathematician)|Ibn Sahl]] (10th century) and most notably by [[Ibn al-Haytham|Alhazen]] (''[[Book of Optics]]'', {{circa|1021}}). [[Latin translations of the 12th century|Latin translations]] of Ptolemy's ''Optics'' and of Alhazen became available in Europe in the 12th century, coinciding with the development of "[[reading stone]]s".

There are claims that single lens magnifying glasses were being used in China during the [[Northern Song dynasty]] (960–1127).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.shine.cn/feature/art-culture/1909061557/ | title=Opening our eyes to spectacles of the past }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.laitimes.com/en/article/3jdyv_402zp.html | title=In the tomb of Liu Jing, the King of Guangling, a gold circle embedded with crystals was unearthed, which was the first glasses in history | date=7 April 2022 }}</ref>

[[Robert Grosseteste]]'s treatise ''De iride'' (''On the Rainbow''), written between 1220 and 1235, mentions using optics to "read the smallest letters at incredible distances".<ref>{{Citation |title=A Source Book in Medieval Science |date=1974 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fAPN_3w4hAUC&pg=PA389 |page=389 |editor-last=Grant |editor-first=Edward |place=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674823600}} From Grant's English translation of Robert Grosseteste's ''De Iride'' (On the rainbow) in Latin, p. 389: "This part [viz, from Aristotle's supposed treatise on optics] of perspective, if perfectly understood, shows us how to make nearby objects appear very small, and how to make a small object placed at a distance appear as large as we wish, so that it would be possible to read minute letters from incredible distances or count sand, seeds, blades of grass, or any minute objects."</ref> A few years later in 1262, [[Roger Bacon]] is also known to have written on the magnifying properties of lenses.<ref>Bacon, Roger; Burke, Robert Belle, trans. (1962) [https://archive.org/details/opusmajusofroger002065mbp/page/n181 ''The Opus Majus of Roger Bacon''] (New York: Russell & Russell, Inc.) vol. 2. Part 5, Ch. IV, p. 582. From p. 582: "For we can so shape transparent bodies, and arrange them in such a way with respect to our sight and objects of vision, that the rays will be refracted and bent in any direction we desire, and under any angle, we wish we shall see the object near or at a distance. Thus from an incredible distance we might read the smallest letters and number grains of dust and sand ..."</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=...Optics Highlights: II. Spectacles |url=http://www.ece.umd.edu/~taylor/optics2.htm |publisher=University of Maryland, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering |access-date=1 September 2007 |archive-date=23 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923233305/http://www.ece.umd.edu/~taylor/optics2.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> The development of the first eyeglasses took place in northern [[Italy]] in the second half of the 13th century.<ref name="Kriss">{{Citation |last1=Kriss |first1=Timothy C |title=History of the Operating Microscope: From Magnifying Glass to Microneurosurgery |date=April 1998 |journal=Neurosurgery |volume=42 |issue=4 |pages=899–907 |doi=10.1097/00006123-199804000-00116 |pmid=9574655 |last2=Kriss |first2=Vesna Martich}}</ref>

Independently of the development of optical lenses, some cultures developed "[[sunglasses]]" for eye protection, without any corrective properties.<ref>{{Citation |last=Ament |first=Phil |title=Sunglasses History – The Invention of Sunglasses |date=4 December 2006 |url=http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/sunglasses.htm |work=The Great Idea Finder |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703224202/http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/sunglasses.htm |publisher=Vaunt Design Group |access-date=28 June 2007 |archive-date=3 July 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> For example, flat panes of [[smoky quartz]] were used in 12th-century [[China]],{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Chinese judges wore dark glasses to hide their facial expressions during court proceedings.{{Sfn|Needham|1962|p=121}}}} and the [[Inuit]] have used [[Inuit snow goggles|snow goggles]] for eye protection.

<gallery widths="150" heights="200">
File:Tommaso da modena, ritratti di domenicani (Ugo di Provenza) 1352 150cm, treviso, ex convento di san niccolò, sala del capitolo.jpg|Detail of a portrait of the [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] cardinal and renowned biblical scholar [[Hugh of Saint-Cher]], painted by [[Tommaso da Modena]] in 1352
File:Portrait of a Cardinal by El Greco.jpg|Portrait of Cardinal [[Fernando Niño de Guevara]] by [[El Greco]], c. 1600, showing glasses with temples passing over and around the ears
File:Mu'in. Portrait of Riza-i-Abbasi. 1673. Princeton University..jpg|The Persian miniaturist [[Reza Abbasi]] wearing glasses, 1673.
</gallery>

=== Invention ===
[[File:Conrad von Soest, 'Brillenapostel' (1403).jpg|thumb|upright|The ''Glasses Apostle'' by [[Conrad von Soest]] (1403)]]
[[File:Medieval Spectacles.jpg|thumb|Seated apostle holding lenses in position for reading. Detail from ''[[Death of the Virgin]]'', by the [[Master of Heiligenkreuz]], {{circa|1400}}–1430 ([[Getty Center]]).]]
[[File:Scissors glasses.jpg|thumb|French Empire gilt [[Scissors-glasses|scissors glasses]] (with one lens missing), {{circa|lk=no|1805}}]]

The earliest recorded comment on the use of lenses for optical purposes was made in 1268 by [[Roger Bacon]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Eyeglasses {{!}} optics |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/eyeglasses |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en |access-date=18 February 2021}}</ref>

The first eyeglasses were estimated to have been made in [[Central Italy]], most likely in [[Pisa]] or [[Florence]], by about 1290: In a sermon delivered on 23 February 1306, the [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] friar [[Jordan of Pisa|Giordano da Pisa]] ({{circa|1255}}–1311) wrote "It is not yet twenty years since there was found the art of making eyeglasses, which make for good vision&nbsp;... And it is so short a time that this new art, never before extant, was discovered.&nbsp;... I saw the one who first discovered and practiced it, and I talked to him."{{Sfn | Ilardi | 2007 | p = [https://books.google.com/books?id=peIL7hVQUmwC&pg=PA5 5]}}

Giordano's colleague Friar [[Alessandro della Spina]] of Pisa (d. 1313) was soon making eyeglasses. The ''Ancient Chronicle of the Dominican Monastery of St. Catherine in Pisa'' records: "Eyeglasses, having first been made by someone else, who was unwilling to share them, he [Spina] made them and shared them with everyone with a cheerful and willing heart."{{Sfn | Ilardi | 2007 | p = 6}} [[Venice]] quickly became an important center of manufacture, especially due to using the high-quality glass made at [[Murano]].<ref name="Rasmussen_2008">{{Citation |last=Rasmussen |first=Seth C. |title={{title case|ADVANCES IN 13th CENTURY GLASS MANUFACTURING AND THEIR EFFECT ON CHEMICAL PROGRESS}} |date=2008 |url=http://acshist.scs.illinois.edu/bulletin_open_access/v33-1/v33-1%20p28-34.pdf |work=Bulletin for the History of Chemistry |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=29–34 |access-date=18 October 2021}}</ref> By 1301, there were [[guild]] regulations in Venice governing the sale of eyeglasses{{Sfn | Ilardi | 2007 | p = 9}} and a separate guild of Venetian spectacle makers was formed in 1320.<ref name="Rasmussen_2008" /> In the fourteenth century, they were very common objects: [[Francesco Petrarca]] says in one of his [[Epistolae familiares|letters]] that, until he was 60, he did not need glasses,<ref>Petrarch (Franciscus Petrarca) mentions eyeglasses in his ''Epistola ad Posteros'' (Letter to Posterity): {{Citation |last=Petrarca |first=Francisci |title=Epistolae de Rebus Familiaribus et Variae ... |date=1859 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XqwHAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1 |volume=1 |pages=1–2 |editor-last=Fracassetti |editor-first=Joseph |place=Florence, Italy |publisher=Felice Le Monnier |language=la |quote=...&nbsp;colore vivido inter candidum et subnigrum, vivacibus oculis et visu per longum tempus acerrimo, qui preter spem supra sexagesimum etatis annum me destituit, ut indignanti michi ad ocularium confugiendum esset auxilium.}}</ref><ref>English translation: {{Citation |last1=Petrarch |editor1-last=Robinson |editor1-first=James Harvey |editor2-last=Rolfe |editor2-first=Henry Winchester |title=Petrarch: The First Modern Scholar and Man of Letters |date=1914 |publisher=G. P. Putnam's Sons |location=New York |page=60 |edition=2nd |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/48776/48776-h/48776-h.htm#FNanchor_2_47|quote=I was possessed of a clear complexion, between light and dark, lively eyes, and for long years a keen vision, which however deserted me, contrary to my hopes, after I reached my sixtieth birthday, and forced me, to my great annoyance, to resort to glasses.}}</ref> and [[Franco Sacchetti]] mentions them often in his ''Trecentonovelle''.

The earliest pictorial evidence for the use of eyeglasses is [[Tommaso da Modena]]'s 1352 portrait of the cardinal [[Hugh of Saint-Cher|Hugh de Saint-Cher]] reading in a [[scriptorium]]. Another early example would be a depiction of eyeglasses found north of the [[Alps]] in an altarpiece of the church of [[Bad Wildungen]], Germany, in 1403. These early glasses had [[convex lenses]] that could correct both [[hyperopia]] (farsightedness), and the [[presbyopia]] that commonly develops as a symptom of [[aging]]. Although concave lenses for [[myopia]] (near-sightedness) had made their first appearance in the mid-15th century,<ref name="Rasmussen_2008" /> it was not until 1604 that [[Johannes Kepler]] published the first correct explanation as to why convex and concave lenses could correct presbyopia and myopia.{{Refn | group="lower-alpha" | In his treatise ''Ad Vitellionem paralipomena'' [Emendations (or Supplement) to Witelo] (1604), Kepler explained how eyeglass lenses compensate for the distortions that are caused by presbyopia or myopia, so that the image is once again properly focused on the [[retina]].{{Sfn|Ilardi|2007|p=244}}<ref>{{Citation |last1=Ronchi |first1=Vasco |title=Optics: The Science of Vision |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ht695-SFJYoC&pg=PA45 |pages=45–46 |year=1991 |place=Mineola, New York |publisher=Dover Publications |isbn=9780486668468 |last2=Rosen |first2=Edward}}</ref>}}

Early frames for glasses consisted of two magnifying glasses [[rivet]]ed together by the handles so that they could grip the nose. These are referred to as "rivet spectacles". The earliest surviving examples were found under the floorboards at [[Kloster Wienhausen]], a [[convent]] near [[Celle]] in Germany; they have been dated to ''circa'' 1400.<ref>{{Citation |title=Rivet spectacles |date=2015 |url=http://www.college-optometrists.org/en/college/museyeum/online_exhibitions/spectacles/rivet.cfm |work=www.college-optometrists.org |publisher=The College of Optometrists |access-date=28 February 2015}}</ref>

The world's first specialist shop for spectacles—what we might regard today as an [[optician]]—opened in [[Strasbourg]] (then [[Holy Roman Empire]], now France) in 1466.<ref name=BBC>{{Citation |last=Harford |first=Tim |title=Why do billions of people still not have glasses? |date=20 November 2019 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49991877 |work=BBC News |access-date=21 November 2019}}</ref>

==== Other claims ====
The 17th-century claim by [[Francesco Redi]] that [[Salvino degli Armati]] of Florence invented eyeglasses in the 13th century has been exposed as erroneous.<ref>{{Citation |last=Rosen |first=Edward |title=The invention of eyeglasses |journal=Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=13–46 (part 1), 183–218 (part 2) |year=1956 |doi=10.1093/jhmas/xi.2.183 |pmid=13306950}}</ref>{{Sfn | Ilardi | 2007 | pp = [https://books.google.com/books?id=peIL7hVQUmwC&pg=PA13 13–18]}}

[[Marco Polo]] is mistakenly claimed to have encountered eyeglasses during his travels in China in the 13th century. However, no such evidence appears in his accounts.{{Sfn | Needham | 1962 | p = [https://books.google.com/books?id=oJ9nayZZ2oEC&pg=119 119, footnote c]}}<ref name="Hirschberg 1911 265">{{Citation |last=Hirschberg |first=Julius |title=Handbuch der gesamten Augenheilkunde |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32436001117918&view=1up&seq=289 |volume=13 |pages=265 ff |year=1911 |editor-last=Graef |editor-first=Alfred K |trans-title=Handbook of all ophthalmology |trans-chapter=History of Ophthalmology |chapter=Geschichte der Augenheilkunde |series=Handbuch der Augenheilkunde |place=Leipzig, Germany |publisher=Wilhelm Engelmann |editor2-last=Saemisch |editor2-first=Theodor}} Section {{lang|de|Geschichte der Brillen}} (History of Eyeglasses) From pp. 266–267 (translated): "3. Do the Europeans have the Chinese to thank for eyeglasses? ... Messrs. Scrini and Fortin in Paris have asserted this recently with the words: 'One knows, on the other hand, that when Marco Polo went to China, he learned that for a very long time already, the inhabitants had been using eyeglasses.' This assertion lacked any substantiation. So I have closely perused the German translation of 'the books of Marco Polo' (2nd ed., Leipzig 1855) once again as well as carefully compared [that book] to the original text (the book of Marco Polo by Pauthier, Paris 1865, 2 volumes): not a syllable about eyeglasses in China is found therein. Our highly esteemed Sinologist, Prof. Graube, had the kindness to peruse also the English edition (by Yule, London 1875), with the same negative result. Thus the sentence of Messrs. Scrini and Fortin is to be crossed out; this error may not be the only one to have infiltrated the literature."</ref> Indeed, the earliest mentions of eyeglasses in China occur in the 15th century and those Chinese sources state that eyeglasses were imported.{{Sfn | Needham | 1962 | p = 119}}

[[File:南都繁會圖 02.jpg|thumb|Man wearing glasses on the 16th century [[Ming dynasty]] [[Chinese painting]] ''The Bustling and Hustling of Nanjing'' ([[:zh:南都繁会图]])]]

In 1907, Professor [[Berthold Laufer]] speculated, in his history of glasses, that for glasses to be mentioned in the literature of China and Europe at approximately the same time it was probable that they were not invented independently, and after ruling out the Turks, proposed India as a location.<ref>Laufer, Berthold (1907). [https://books.google.com/books?id=UgGgAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA379 "Geschichte der Brille"] [History of eyeglasses]. ''Mitteilungen zur Geschichte der Medizin und der Naturwissenschaften'' [Communications on the History of Medicine and the Sciences], '''6''' (4) : 379–385.</ref>{{refn|group=lower-alpha|{{Citation |last=Laufer |first=Berthold |title=Geschichte der Brille |date=1907 |url=http://www.chinesehsc.org/downloads/laufer/laufer_geschichte_der_brille.pdf |volume=6 |issue=4 |page=26 |access-date=29 May 2019}} Translation:

{{blockquote|I am interested in the remarks of Prof. J. HIRSCHBERG on the "History of the Invention of Glasses" published in the last issue of this journal (Volume VI, pp. 221–223) and the subsequent discussion by Prof. GÜPPERT. The book by HIRSCHBERG mentioned therein, in which his theory should be presented in detail, has not yet become accessible to me. I, therefore, limit my criticism of it as far as possible and prefer to prove, by means of new material from Chinese literature, that the view of the original invention of spectacles in India is the greatest probability. HIRSCHBERG theory is highly unlikely, as all previous experience has shown and contradicts analogies in cultural history and in the history of inventions in particular; Crystal spectacles appear in the European Middle Ages, in India, and in China, and from the historical point of view one can suppose from the outset that these inventions did not occur independently in each of these three cultural groups, but that a historical connection is here present.}}}} However, [[Joseph Needham]] stated that the mention of glasses in the Chinese manuscript Laufer used "in part" to credit the prior invention of them in Asia did not exist in older versions of that manuscript, and the reference to them in later versions was added during the [[Ming dynasty]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Science and Civilization in China Vol 4.1 |url=http://monoskop.org/images/7/70/Needham_Joseph_Science_and_Civilisation_in_China_Vol_4-1_Physics_and_Physical_Technology_Physics.pdf |pages=118–119 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160823000519/https://monoskop.org/images/7/70/Needham_Joseph_Science_and_Civilisation_in_China_Vol_4-1_Physics_and_Physical_Technology_Physics.pdf |access-date=3 May 2014 |archive-date=23 August 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1971, Rishi Agarwal, in an article in the ''[[British Journal of Ophthalmology]]'', states that [[Vyasatirtha]] was observed in possession of a pair of glasses in the 1520s, he argues that it "is, therefore, most likely that the use of lenses reached Europe via the Arabs, as did [[Hindu mathematics]] and the ophthalmological works of the ancient Hindu surgeon [[Sushruta]]",<ref>{{cite journal | pmc=1208150 | year=1971 | last1=Agarwal | first1=R. K. | title=Origin of spectacles in India | journal=The British Journal of Ophthalmology | volume=55 | issue=2 | pages=128–129 | doi=10.1136/bjo.55.2.128 |doi-access=free | pmid=4927695 }}</ref> but all dates are given well after<!-- 1344 is 30+ years after 1286 --> the existence of eyeglasses in Italy was established, including significant shipments of eyeglasses from Italy to the Middle East, with one shipment as large as 24,000 glasses,<ref>Renaissance Vision from Spectacles to Telescopes, Vincent Ilardi, American Philosophical Society 2007 pages 118–125</ref> as well as a spectacles dispensary in Strasbourg in 1466.<ref name=BBC/>

=== Later developments ===
The American scientist [[Benjamin Franklin]], who had both [[myopia]] and [[presbyopia]], invented [[bifocals]]. Historians have from time to time produced evidence to suggest that others may have preceded him in the invention; however, a correspondence between [[George Whatley]] and [[John Fenno]], editor of ''[[The Gazette of the United States]]'', suggested that Franklin had indeed invented bifocals, and perhaps 50 years earlier than had been originally thought.<ref>{{Citation |title=The 'Inventor' of Bifocals? |url=http://www.college-optometrists.org/en/knowledge-centre/museyeum/online_exhibitions/artgallery/bifocals.cfm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613044912/http://www.college-optometrists.org/en/knowledge-centre/museyeum/online_exhibitions/artgallery/bifocals.cfm |publisher=The College of Optometrists |archive-date=13 June 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The first lenses for correcting [[astigmatism]] were designed by the British astronomer [[George Airy]] in 1825.<ref>{{Citation |last=Bruen |first=Robert |title=Sir George Biddell Airy |url=http://www.lucasianchair.org/19/airy.html |work=The Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at Cambridge University |publisher=Robert Bruen |access-date=1 January 2014 |archive-date=25 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125092211/http://www.lucasianchair.org/19/airy.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Over time, the construction of frames for glasses also evolved. Early eyepieces were designed to be either held in place by hand or by exerting pressure on the nose (''[[pince-nez]]''). [[Girolamo Savonarola]] suggested that eyepieces could be held in place by a ribbon passed over the wearer's head, this in turn secured by the weight of a hat. The modern style of glasses, held by temples passing over the ears, was developed sometime before 1727, possibly by the British optician [[Edward Scarlett]]. These designs were not immediately successful, however, and various styles with attached handles such as "[[scissors-glasses]]" and [[lorgnette]]s were also fashionable from the second half of the 18th century and into the early 19th century.

In the early 20th century, [[Moritz von Rohr]] and [[Carl Zeiss AG|Zeiss]] (with the assistance of H. Boegehold and A. Sonnefeld<ref>{{Citation |title=Eyeglass Lenses and Visual Aids from Industrial Production |url=http://www.zeiss.com/C12567A100537AB9/Contents-Frame/6B49EEA709EAE719C1256919003DAE2B |publisher=Zeiss |access-date=2 September 2007}}</ref>) developed the Zeiss Punktal spherical point-focus lenses that dominated the eyeglass lens field for many years. In 2008, [[Joshua Silver]] designed eyewear with adjustable corrective glasses. They work by using a built-in syringe to pump a [[silicone]] solution into a flexible lens.<ref>{{Citation |last=Whiteman |first=Honor |title=Self-adjustable eyeglasses: how one man's vision is helping others to see better |date=12 November 2015 |url=https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/302550 |work=Medical News Today |publisher=Red Ventures |access-date=25 October 2021}}</ref>

Despite the popularity of [[contact lenses]] and [[laser]] [[Refractive surgery|corrective eye surgery]], glasses remain very common, as their technology has improved. For instance, it is now possible to purchase frames made of special [[memory metal]] alloys that return to their correct shape after being bent. Other frames have spring-loaded hinges. Either of these designs offer dramatically better ability to withstand the stresses of daily wear and the occasional accident. Modern frames are also often made from strong, lightweight materials such as [[titanium]] alloys, which were not available in earlier times.

<gallery widths="160" heights="200">
File:Don francisco de quevedo-villegas.jpg|A portrait of [[Francisco de Quevedo y Villegas]], 1580–1645
File:Harry S. Truman.jpg|[[Harry S. Truman]], 33rd President of the United States, had poor vision.
</gallery>

===In fashion===

In the 1930s, "spectacles" were described as "medical appliances".<ref name="pullin">{{Citation |last=Pullin |first=Graham |title=Design Meets Disability |date=2009 |pages=13–64 |chapter=Fashion Meets Discretion |place=Cambridge |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=9780262162555 |display-authors=etal}}</ref> Wearing spectacles was sometimes considered socially humiliating. In the 1970s, fashionable glasses started to become available through manufacturers, and governments also recognized the demand for stylized eyewear.<ref name="pullin" />

Graham Pullin describes how devices for disability, like glasses, have traditionally been designed to camouflage against the skin and restore ability without being visible.<ref name="pullin" /> In the past, design for disability has "been less about projecting a positive image as about trying not to project an image at all".<ref name="pullin" /> Pullin uses the example of spectacles, traditionally categorized as a medical device for "patients", and outlines how they are now described as eyewear: a fashionable accessory.<ref name="pullin" /> Much like other fashion designs and accessories, eyewear is created by designers, has reputable labels, and comes in collections, by season and designer.<ref name="pullin" /> In recent years, it has become more common for consumers to purchase eyewear with non-prescription lenses as a fashion accessory.<ref name="pullin" />