Eyeglasses ~ The Greatest Invention Ever

Growing up, I always hated swimming parties because I could not see, or skating parties where I was fearful of falling and breaking my glasses. I was always protected by members of my family when we went on vacations, so I was free to water ski, snorkel or even swim in the ocean. Someone was always watching out for me. I would have never seen a fin approaching much less be able to tell if it was a dolphin or shark coming by to greet or eat me.

I am an avid reader. I always have a book that I am either starting or finishing. Sometimes I will be so engrossed in a book, that I totally forget to eat or sleep and I never finish one book that I do not have another one waiting for me to begin.

One of my greatest fears was the subject of an old Twilight Zone show, "Time Enough At Last." While most people watching this show would just find it entertaining and containing an ironic twist, I was horrified by the idea of being the last person on earth, surrounded by books, all the time in the world to read, just to have my glasses break. I think I would be screaming a lot worse than "that's not fair."


Image from: scienceblogs.com

I am frequently a source of humor for my family. Not intentionally, mind you, but sometimes things just happen.

Growing up, all of our bedrooms were upstairs and there was only one bathroom shared by all 8 of us. It was not unusual for me to bump into things if for some reason I had to get up in the night. I walked into door frames, I tripped over shoes, books, sleeping dogs, you name it. If it was in the floor, I would not see it. I hate to recount the many times I literally stepped in a dog's "gift" and woke at least one family member who raced to my side just to be grossed out.

None of the nighttime adventures can equal the time when we were at the fair. I was in absolute awe of all of the twinkling lights, music and rides. I was so excited when I reached out and grabbed my father's hand and said "look Dad!" I was immediately surrounded by laughter and I didn't realize until the young man spoke to me that I was not holding my father's hand. I was momentarily terrified. Fortunately, my father can see and he was just behind me. He picked me up and carried me to the next ride. My brother told me later that the reason it was so funny was because the young man I mistook for my dad was actually a teenager with his date. Well, shucks, my Dad still looks young for his age!


Image from: bighugelabs.com

I enjoy several different crafts, but my favorites are sewing and cross stitch. Without my glasses, it would be impossible for me to thread a needle, read a pattern, or cut along the printed line. It would all just look like a big blob to me.

Frankly, I couldn't even see a thin needle much less the eye of the needle.

Around 1284 in Italy, Salvino D'Armate is credited with inventing the first wearable eye glasses.[8] The earliest pictorial evidence for the use of eyeglasses, however, is Tomaso da Modena's 1352 portrait of the cardinal Hugh de Provence 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.

Many theories abound for whom should be credited for the invention of traditional eyeglasses. In 1676, Francesco Redi, a professor of medicine at the University of Pisa, wrote that he possessed a 1289 manuscript whose author complains that he would be unable to read or write were it not for the recent invention of glasses. He also produced a record of a sermon given in 1305, in which the speaker, a Dominican monk named Fra Giordano da Rivalto, remarked that glasses had been invented less than twenty years previously, and that he had met the inventor. Based on this evidence, Redi credited another Dominican monk, Fra Alessandro da Spina of Pisa, with the re-invention of glasses after their original inventor kept them a secret, a claim contained in da Spina's obituary record.[9]

While the exact date and inventor may be forever disputed, it is almost certain that spectacles were invented between 1280 and 1300 in Italy.

Continued on Wikipedia

For me the greatest invention would have to be my glasses. So many of the things I enjoy most would be beyond my ability to pursue if I did not have corrective lenses.

Without my glasses, I wouldn't even be able to read the screen of this computer.

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Updated: 3/3/12

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