Glasses are lenticular lenses embedded in a frame that are worn in front of the eye to improve vision, protect the eye, or for decorative purposes. Glasses can correct a variety of vision problems, including nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, presbyopia or strabismus, amblyopia, etc. There are 15 kinds of myopic eyeglass online, farsighted glasses, reading glasses and astigmatic glasses, plain glasses, computer goggles, goggles, swimming goggles, night vision goggles, esports game goggles, sunglasses and so on.

So, who invented glasses? Who, exactly, invented the lens? Is it China or the West or somewhere else?

Some say it was an Arab scholar who, in his 11th century treatise on Optics, discussed both "lens" and "eye." In fact, as early as 2283 AD, the emperor of China used a lens to look at the stars. That is to say, the first glasses, from the "magnifying glass". In Volume 15 of Mo-Tzu's Mo-Jing, light, flat mirror, concave mirror and convex mirror are discussed.

The Jin Dynasty's "Bowu Annals" has a description: "cut the ice life round, lift to the sun, with Ai bearing its shadow will get fire." It shows that in the third century AD, our ancient people already knew how to use refraction to focus: "lens fire". Later, in the early Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Heng discovered that the causes of the waxing and waning of the moon, lunar eclipse and solar eclipse were all based on the lens.

Since the ancients had long explored the imaging principle in optics, why did the development of glasses seem slow?

First, the cost is not cheap;

Second, the market is not strong.

In the past, there were very few nearsighted people, in addition to natural, even if the reader, the probability of getting "this disease" is also very low. Especially before the scientific examination system, the road to official life was basically limited to the literati family, and reading can be said to have no competitive pressure. Even if there is a scientific examination system, can read, even if the family is rich, the consumption of candles is not a small expense. Therefore, relatively speaking, the time of reading every day is much less than now. Moreover, the subject is a single, familiar with the four books and five classics can be.

Ouyang Xiu in the Song Dynasty, according to research, was nearsighted, and had to rely on children to read to him. Song Dynasty has a single piece of "glasses", called "叆叇", in fact, this is a kind of "reading glasses". There is a record in "Dongtian Qinglu" : "叆叇, the old man can not distinguish the book, so he can see when he covers his eyes." Among the cultural relics unearthed one after another, some crystal convex lenses were found. For example, in the Han tomb in Ganquan Town, Yangzhou City, there is a lens that can be magnified 5 times, which was probably made before 67 AD. In the Shandong Jin tomb of the Guo family in the northern suburbs of Nanjing, there are also found well-made lenses, which are convex and concave optical surfaces, and the profile is crescent shape, which was probably made before 345 AD.

Just look at the processing technology of these lenses, it is enough to see that our ancient people have a considerable understanding of the optical knowledge of lenses. However, whether these lenses are the equivalent of today's glasses, the question is probably left to experts to figure out.

The National Museum of China has a collection of Ming Dynasty people painted "Southern Metropolis complex scenery Scroll", among which, there is an old man watching "juggling tricks" in the downtown area, wearing a pair of glasses, some analysis, should be the early 16th century style.

Many people agree that glasses were invented in the West in the 14th century and spread to China in the 15th century. Another claimed that 叆叇 is the Arabic word for glasses. If this is true, then why create a new word "glasses"?

If we comb through the history, we will find that there is only one difference between Chinese "glasses" and Western "glasses", that is, the material used. It is said that in ancient times, glasses were expensive, and even needed a horse to exchange them. In the Ming Dynasty, this was even used as a royal appreciation for some old ministers with poor eyesight, because they used relatively scarce crystal or topaz.

In turn, look at Western glasses, synchronous inventions as well as microscopes, telescopes, cameras, etc., which undoubtedly use the same material, that is, glass. In terms of optical theoretical knowledge of lenses, China is many years ahead, but because of the gap in materials, it suddenly puts itself many years behind.

Gusu in China is the birthplace of China's glasses, which has played a great role in promoting the development of China's glasses industry. In the early years of Chongzhen Ming Dynasty, there was an outstanding technician named Sun Yunqiu, who was originally from Wujiang. He grew up diligent and studious, when he saw people with poor eyesight was very painful, but the "single" mirror was not convenient to use. So he carefully developed a lens that could be mounted on glasses.

At the same time, he also mastered the "light" technology, according to people's age and different vision to develop presbyopia, myopia, farsightedness and other varieties and various photometric lenses, and compiled a set of "with the eye to the mirror" the original optometry method to test the eye. In this way, the glasses can be matched with the eyes, the effect is not bad, and it is more convenient and comfortable to wear on the face to meet the needs of each person's vision, which is the beginning of our country's independent optometry.

In the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, there were many glasses shops in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and some people wore glasses as a fashion. It seems that there is not much difference between ancient and modern people's understanding of beauty. In fact, Marco Polo, who lived in China, not only told Europeans how beautiful China was, but also recorded some details of life, such as: old people wear glasses to read small print.

Therefore, it is difficult to deny that Europeans later made glasses, whether it was inspired by this.

From the former Chinese emperors used to look at the stars, to now mostly used to correct short-sighted vision, the development of glasses began to accelerate after entering the 17th century. The "ancestor" of the glasses now worn should have begun in Spain in 1623. In 1825, there were astigmatic lenses, and then there were contact lenses, and the material also evolved from glass to resin. Later, with the advent of intraocular lens technology, glasses could be said goodbye to some extent.

The more humans understand themselves, the more technology can serve them. Previously, some "external" appliances, such as glasses, should one day be embedded for life. Maybe, one day, when we look at the stars again, we'll just have to turn on a switch in our bodies. Although technology makes life more dynamic, but more attention should be paid to the care of the eyes, after all, sometimes technology is not omnipotent.