"the Middle East, with one shipment as large as 24,000 glasses. The American scientist Benjamin Franklin, who suffered from both myopia and presbyopia, invented bifocals. Serious 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. The first lenses for correcting astigmatism were designed by the British astronomer George Airy in 1825. Over time, the construction of"
"Bifocals Bifocals are eyeglasses with two distinct optical powers. Bifocals are commonly prescribed to people with presbyopia who also require a correction for myopia, hyperopia, and/or astigmatism. Benjamin Franklin is generally credited with the invention of bifocals . Historians have produced some evidence to suggest that others may have come before 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. However the College of Optometrists concluded: Since many inventions are developed"
"two distinct focal planes that are substantially separated (in the manner of bifocals) to switch their vision from up-close to distance, for easy and efficient capture of their prey, mostly mosquito larvae. This is the first ever recorded use of bifocal technology in the animal world. Bifocals Bifocals are eyeglasses with two distinct optical powers. Bifocals are commonly prescribed to people with presbyopia who also require a correction for myopia, hyperopia, and/or astigmatism. Benjamin Franklin is generally credited with the invention of bifocals . Historians have produced some evidence to suggest that others may have come before him in the"
"independently by more than one person, it is possible that the invention of bifocals may have been such a case. John Isaac Hawkins, the inventor of trifocal lenses, coined the term ""bifocals"" in 1824 and credited Dr. Franklin. In 1955, Irving Rips of Younger Optics created the first seamless or ""invisible"" bifocal, a precursor to all progressive lenses. Construction Original bifocals were designed with the most convex lenses (for close viewing) in the lower half of the frame and the least convex lenses on the upper. Up until the beginning of the 20th century two separate lenses were cut in"
"more important and dignified. Far-sighted or aging colonial Americans imported spectacles from Europe. Spectacles were primarily for the affluent and literate colonists, who required a valuable and precious appliance. Benjamin Franklin in the 1780s developed the bifocal. Bifocal lenses advanced little in the first half of the 19th century. The terms bifocal and trifocal were introduced in London by John Isaac Hawkins, whose trifocals were patented in 1827. In 1884 B. M. Hanna was granted patents on two forms of bifocals which become commercially standardized as the ""cemented"" and ""perfection"" bifocals. Both had the serious faults of ugly appearance, fragility,"
"Salvino degli Armati. Around 1733, Scarlett was commissioned by Chester Moor Hall, the inventor of color-pure lenses, to produce a partial lens of the first Achromaten. However, he passed this order on to George Bass. He had also received the subcontract for the other lens part and recognized the color purity of the double lens. So Bass could later pass on the mystery of the Achromaten to John Dollond, who received the patent for their production in 1758. Edward Scarlett Edward Scarlett (1688 - 1743 in London) was an English optician and instrument maker, who first invented an eyeglass frame"
"a flint lens.” Up to the present day, Erfle's patents have continued to be cited in later patent applications by other scientists. Heinrich Erfle Heinrich Erfle (April 1, 1884, Dürkheim – April 8, 1923, Jena) was a German optician who spent most of his career at Carl Zeiss. In 1917 he invented the first wide-field eyepieces for telescopes and binoculars. During his short life he developed a number of new designs for telescopes and eyepieces. Heinrich Erfle studied at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität and the Technical University of Munich (TUM), from which he graduated in 1907 with a thesis on ""Optical properties"
"Augustin-Jean Fresnel Augustin-Jean Fresnel ( , ; ; 10 May 178814 July 1827) was a French civil engineer and physicist whose research in optics led to the almost unanimous acceptance of the wave theory of light, excluding any remnant of Newton's corpuscular theory, from the late 1830s until the end of the 19th century. But he is perhaps better known for inventing the catadioptric (reflective/refractive) Fresnel lens and for pioneering the use of ""stepped"" lenses to extend the visibility of lighthouses, saving countless lives at sea. The simpler dioptric (purely refractive) stepped lens, first proposed by Count Buffon and independently"
"half and combined together in the rim of the frame. The mounting of two half lenses into a single frame led to a number of early complications and rendered such spectacles quite fragile. A method for fusing the sections of the lenses together was developed by Louis de Wecker at the end of the 19th century and patented by Dr. John L. Borsch, Jr. in 1908. Today most bifocals are created by molding a reading segment into a primary lens and are available with the reading segments in a variety of shapes and sizes. The most popular is the D-segment,"
"Hans-Joachim Haase (optician) Hans-Joachim Haase (1915 – December 20, 2001) was a German clockmaker, optician and inventor, who became known for an apparatus for testing binocular vision and for the ""MKH method"", an alternative method intended to improve binocular vision using corrective lenses. This method, which is controversial, has mainly found application in German-speaking countries. Born the son of an optician, Haase underwent formal training to be a clockmaker and an optician, and became a ""Meister""-optician in 1951. From 1953 onwards he held a teaching position at the """" (SFOF) in Berlin. With an acute interest in binocular vision, Haase"
"Joseph von Fraunhofer Joseph Ritter von Fraunhofer (; ; 6 March 1787 – 7 June 1826) was a Bavarian physicist and optical lens manufacturer. He made optical glass and achromatic telescope objective lenses, invented the spectroscope, and developed diffraction grating. In 1814, he discovered and studied the dark absorption lines in the spectrum of the sun now known as Fraunhofer lines. The German research organization Fraunhofer Society is named after him and is Europe's biggest Society for the Advancement of Applied Research. Joseph Fraunhofer was born in Straubing, in the Electorate of Bavaria, to Franz Xaver Fraunhofer and Maria Anna"
"Heinrich Erfle Heinrich Erfle (April 1, 1884, Dürkheim – April 8, 1923, Jena) was a German optician who spent most of his career at Carl Zeiss. In 1917 he invented the first wide-field eyepieces for telescopes and binoculars. During his short life he developed a number of new designs for telescopes and eyepieces. Heinrich Erfle studied at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität and the Technical University of Munich (TUM), from which he graduated in 1907 with a thesis on ""Optical properties and electron theory."" His dissertation advisers were Wilhelm Ebert and Sebastian Finsterwalder. After a two-year residency at the TUM he began to"
"Salvino D'Armati Salvino D'Armato degli Armati of Florence (died 1317) is sometimes credited with the invention of eyeglasses, however this claim was shown to be a hoax. The earliest mention of Salvino degli Armati as the inventor of eyeglasses occurred in 1684. Ferdinando Leopoldo del Migliore (1628-1696) of Florence published a book, ""Firenze citta' noblissima illustrata"" (""Florence, Most Noble City, illustrated""). In this book, del Migliore claimed to own a burial register of the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, which had recently been renovated. This register supposedly recorded Armati's epitaph as follows: ""Original"" : ""Qui diace Salvino d'Armato degl' Armati"
"a bookstore. He entered Jefferson Medical College in 1885 and graduated in 1888. He then opened an Ophthalmology office in Philadelphia. During that time he invented the cemented bifocal lens. He was the first president of the Association of Medical Librarians (now the Medical Library Association). He served from 1898 to 1901. After twenty years of practice, he moved to Ithaca, New York and three years later to Atlantic City. A collection of papers about his life are held at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland. George M. Gould George Milbr(e)y Gould (November 8, 1848 Auburn, Maine –"
"Binoculars Binoculars or field glasses are two telescopes mounted side-by-side and aligned to point in the same direction, allowing the viewer to use both eyes (binocular vision) when viewing distant objects. Most are sized to be held using both hands, although sizes vary widely from opera glasses to large pedestal mounted military models. Unlike a (monocular) telescope, binoculars give users a three-dimensional image: for nearer objects the two views, presented to each of the viewer's eyes from slightly different viewpoints, produce a merged view with an impression of depth. Almost from the invention of the telescope in the 17th century"
"eyepieces consist of two plano-convex lenses with the plane sides towards the eye separated by an air gap. The lenses are called the eye lens and the field lens. The focal plane is located between the two lenses. It was invented by Christiaan Huygens in the late 1660s and was the first compound (multi-lens) eyepiece. Huygens discovered that two air spaced lenses can be used to make an eyepiece with zero transverse chromatic aberration. If the lenses are made of glass of the same refractive index, to be used with a relaxed eye and a telescope with an infinitely distant"
"Loran B. Morgan Loran B. Morgan (October 14, 1918 - November 23, 2009) was a United States ophthalmologist best known as the inventor of the Morgan Lens. Loran B. Morgan was born in Pipestone, Minnesota on October 14, 1918. the fourth of five children born to Mabelle and William Morgan. Morgan knew from a young age that he wanted to be a doctor. After graduating from high school in 1936, he attended the University of Minnesota and then the University of Minnesota Medical School, graduating in March 1943. He then interned at St. Luke's Hospital in Denver. While in Denver,"
"that Johannes Kepler published the first correct explanation as to why convex and concave lenses could correct presbyopia and myopia. Early frames for glasses consisted of two magnifying glasses riveted 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. Claims that Salvino degli Armati of Florence invented eyeglasses have been exposed as hoaxes. Marco Polo is sometimes claimed to have encountered eyeglasses during his travels in"
"of Santa Maria Maggiore. In the twentieth century, efforts were made to expose as a hoax the claim that Salvino degli Armati invented eyeglasses: The ""Dizionario enciclopedico italiano"" (1955), vol. 1, lists Salvino degli Armati together with an exposure of del Migliore's false claim. Furthermore, Vasco Ronchi (1897-1988), an Italian physicist who specialized in optics, also published an article on the subject as did the American historian of science Edward Rosen (1906-1985) and the Italian professor of ophthamology Giuseppe Albertotti (1851-1936). Salvino D'Armati Salvino D'Armato degli Armati of Florence (died 1317) is sometimes credited with the invention of eyeglasses, however"
"Matteo Campani-Alimenis Matteo or Mathieu Campani-Alimenis (born in Spoleto, Italy) was a mechanician and natural philosopher of the 17th century. He held a curacy at Rome in 1661, but devoted himself principally to scientific pursuits. As an optician he is chiefly celebrated for, the manufacture of the large object-glasses with which Cassini discovered two of Saturn's satellites, and for an attempt to rectify chromatic aberration by using a triple eyeglass; and in clock-making, for his invention of the illuminated dial-plate, and that of noiseless clocks, as well as for an attempt to correct the irregularities of the pendulum which arise"
"be visible over greater distances. The idea of creating a thinner, lighter lens in the form of a series of annular steps is often attributed to Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon. Whereas Buffon proposed grinding such a lens from a single piece of glass, the Marquis de Condorcet (1743–1794) proposed making it with separate sections mounted in a frame. French physicist and engineer Augustin-Jean Fresnel is most often given credit for the development of the multi-part lens for use in lighthouses. According to ""Smithsonian"" magazine, the first Fresnel lens was used in 1823 in the Cordouan lighthouse at the mouth"
"Lens Company. He holds several patents for his work on contact lenses. He developed methods to alter the spherical or cylindrical powers of the lenses which in turn he applied in the process for making bifocal lenses. He drew inspiration for this method while looking at a Dr Scholl's shoe insert display at a drug store. He continued to be a consultant for Bausch and Lomb and other glasses and lens manufacturers for numerous years. Borish always had an artistic streak. He wrote several poems to his wife Bea. In the early 50s he took up drawing as a hobby."
"George M. Stratton George Malcolm Stratton (September 26, 1865 – October 8, 1957) was a psychologist who pioneered the study of perception in vision by wearing special glasses which inverted images up and down and left and right. He studied under one of the founders of modern psychology, Wilhelm Wundt, and started one of the first experimental psychology labs in America, at the University of California, Berkeley. Stratton's studies on binocular vision inspired many later studies on the subject. He was one of the initial members of the philosophy department at Berkeley, and the first chair of its psychology department."
"Valley View Cemetery in Torrington. Loran B. Morgan Loran B. Morgan (October 14, 1918 - November 23, 2009) was a United States ophthalmologist best known as the inventor of the Morgan Lens. Loran B. Morgan was born in Pipestone, Minnesota on October 14, 1918. the fourth of five children born to Mabelle and William Morgan. Morgan knew from a young age that he wanted to be a doctor. After graduating from high school in 1936, he attended the University of Minnesota and then the University of Minnesota Medical School, graduating in March 1943. He then interned at St. Luke's Hospital"
"Double Gauss was likely the most intensively studied lens formula of the twentieth century, producing dozens of major variants, scores of minor variants, hundreds of marketed lenses and tens of millions of unit sales. It had almost no flaws, except for a bit of oblique spherical aberration, which could lower peripheral contrast. Double Gauss/Planar tweaks were the standard wide aperture, normal and near-normal prime lens for sixty years. The original two element ""Gauss"" was a telescope objective lens consisting of closely spaced positive and negative menisci, invented in 1817 Carl Friedrich Gauss as an improvement to the Fraunhofer Achromatic telescope"
"inventions, and discoveries. Below is a list of publications he authored including many links to the scanned Google Books pages. Ernst Abbe Ernst Karl Abbe HonFRMS (23 January 1840 – 14 January 1905) was a German physicist, optical scientist, entrepreneur, and social reformer. Together with Otto Schott and Carl Zeiss, he laid the foundation of modern optics. Abbe developed numerous optical instruments. He was a co-owner of Carl Zeiss AG, a German manufacturer of research microscopes, astronomical telescopes, planetariums and other optical systems. Abbe was born 23 January 1840 in Eisenach, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, to Georg Adam Abbe and Elisabeth Christina Barchfeldt."
"the German approach of MKH. Haase received the following awards: The International Association for Binocular Vision (""Internationale Vereinigung für Binokulares Sehen"", IVBS) was created to further advance his MKH method. The association created a prize in his name that can be awarded since 2003. Hans-Joachim Haase (optician) Hans-Joachim Haase (1915 – December 20, 2001) was a German clockmaker, optician and inventor, who became known for an apparatus for testing binocular vision and for the ""MKH method"", an alternative method intended to improve binocular vision using corrective lenses. This method, which is controversial, has mainly found application in German-speaking countries. Born"
"Edward Scarlett Edward Scarlett (1688 - 1743 in London) was an English optician and instrument maker, who first invented an eyeglass frame with earhooks in 1727. This frame is held by the nose and ears, at times the glasses were called in contrast to the nasal cannula and ""temples"" because they had short straps that pressed on the temple. Among other things, Scarlett made polemoscopes (optical instruments that could be seen over obstacles) and tried not only to limit them to military use, but also to expel them. The lenses themselves were not, as often claimed, invented in 1285 by"
"The same design ""bi-form lens"" was used by Wigham in the Galley Head lighthouse in 1877. There was a public dispute. Wigham had patented his design (Patent number 1015) in 1872. Wigham successfully sued Douglass for infringement of patent, and Douglass had to pay £2,500 to Wigham James Nicholas Douglass Sir James Nicholas Douglass, FRS, (16 October 1826 – 19 June 1898), was an English civil engineer, a prolific lighthouse builder and designer, most famous for the design and construction of the fourth Eddystone Lighthouse, for which he was knighted. James Nicholas Douglass was born in Bow, London, in 1826,"
"Alexander T. Brown Alexander Timothy Brown (November 21, 1854 – January 31, 1929) was an inventor, engineer, businessman and entrepreneur in Syracuse, New York and was credited with over 100 inventions. He invented the Smith Premier typewriter, the L. C. Smith breech-loading shotgun and the two-speed ""Hi-Lo Bi-Gear"" for bicycles. He was one of the founders of the Brown-Lipe Gear Company, a manufacturer of bicycle gears and later Brown-Lipe-Chapin Company, a manufacturer of automobile gears, differentials and transmissions, which merged with General Motors in 1922. In the field of public life and commercial and industrial activity, Alexander Timothy Brown was"
"August Müller (inventor) August Müller (1864 – 1949), born in Mönchengladbach, was a medical student at the University of Kiel, Germany, and a pioneer in the manufacture of contact lenses. In 1889, he presented at the university his doctoral thesis titled ""Eyeglasses and corneal lenses"" in which he described his efforts to grind scleral lenses from blown glass. Refinements in his process led him to be able to correct his own severe -14 dioptre myopia to within 0.50 D. Müller's compatriot Adolf Fick had published his work on contact lenses earlier in 1887, but his lenses were heavy and could"
"Joseph Dixon (inventor) Joseph Dixon (1799–1869) was an inventor, entrepreneur and the founder of what became the Dixon Ticonderoga Company, a well-known manufacturer of pencils in the United States. His fascination with new technologies led to many innovations such as a mirror for a camera that was the forerunner of the viewfinder, a patented double-crank steam engine, and a method of printing banknotes to thwart counterfeiters. Most notably, Dixon manufactured the first wood and graphite pencil in the country. Among his associates were such American inventors as Robert Fulton, Samuel Morse, and Alexander Graham Bell, and politician/business partner Orestes Cleveland."
"S. Donald Stookey Stanley Donald Stookey (May 23, 1915 – November 4, 2014) was an American inventor. He had 60 patents in his name related to glass and ceramics, some patents solely his and others shared as joint patents with other inventors. His discoveries and inventions have contributed to the development of ceramics, eyeglasses, sunglasses, cookware, defense systems, and electronics. He was a research director at Corning Glass Works for 47 years doing R & D in glass and ceramic development. His inventions include Fotoform, CorningWare, Cercor, Pyroceram and Photochromic Ophthalmic glass eyewear. Stookey was born on May 23, 1915"