| The history of sunglasses can be traced back to | | | | and reading glasses. |
| ancient Rome around the year AD 60, where the | | | | Sunglasses, as we know them today, were first |
| Emperor Nero is said to have watched gladiator fights | | | | introduced by Sam Foster in America, 1929. These |
| whilst holding up polished emerald-green gems to his | | | | were the first sunglasses designed specifically to |
| eyes, thus reducing the effect of the sun's glare. The | | | | protect people's eyes from the harmful sun's rays. He |
| very first actual recorded evidence of the use of | | | | founded the Foster Grant Company, and sold the first |
| sunglasses can be found from a painting by Tommaso | | | | pair of Foster Grant sunglasses on the boardwalk by |
| da Modena in Italy, 1352, showing a person wearing | | | | the beaches in Atlantic City, New Jersey. These were |
| sunglasses. | | | | the first mass-produced sunglasses, and from this year |
| Earlier, around the twelfth century in China, sunglasses | | | | onwards, sunglasses really began to take off. When I |
| were worn by court judges, not to protect their eyes | | | | say "take off", I mean that quite literally, because in the |
| from the sun, but in order to conceal any expressions | | | | 1930's, the Army Air Corps asked a company Bausch |
| in their eyes as it was important to keep their thoughts | | | | & Lomb (who still exist today) to produce a |
| and opinions secret until the end of each trial. These | | | | spectacle tint that would efficiently reduce high altitude |
| were flat panes of quartz that had been polished | | | | sun glare for pilots. They developed a dark green tint |
| smooth and then smoked to give their tint. | | | | that absorbed light in the yellow band of the visible |
| It was not until 1430 that prescription glasses were first | | | | spectrum. |
| developed in Italy to correct vision, and these early | | | | In 1936, Edwin H Land patented the Polaroid filter for |
| rudimentary spectacles soon found their way to China, | | | | making polarized sunglasses. This type of tint reduces |
| where they were again tinted by smoke to be used | | | | glare reflected from surfaces, such as water. Later in |
| by the judges. The frames were carved out of either | | | | that same year, Rayban took the design of pilots |
| ivory or tortoiseshell, and some were quite ornate. | | | | sunglasses further by producing the aviator-style |
| During the 17th century prescription glasses were being | | | | sunglasses that we know today, using this recently |
| used in England to help elderly presbyopic people to | | | | invented polarized lens technology. The edge of the |
| see better. The Spectacle Makers Company was | | | | frame characteristically drooped away at the edges |
| founded in England who started manufacturing | | | | by the cheeks in a sort of tear drop shape, to give a |
| prescription glasses for the public, whose motto was | | | | full all-round protection to the pilots eyes, who regularly |
| "A Blessing to the Aged". | | | | had to glance down towards the aircraft's instrument |
| The development of sunglasses, however, remained | | | | panel. The polarized lens reduced the glare from light |
| static until the work of James Ayscough, who was | | | | reflected off the instrument panel. Pilots were given |
| known for his work on microscopes in London around | | | | these sunglasses free of charge, but in 1937 the |
| 1750. He experimented with blue and green tinted | | | | general public were allowed to purchase this |
| lenses, believing they could help with certain vision | | | | aviator-style model that "banned" the sun's rays as |
| problems. These were not sunglasses, however, as he | | | | Rayban sunglasses. |
| was not concerned with protecting the eyes from the | | | | In 1960, Foster Grant started a big advertising |
| sun's rays. | | | | campaign to promote sunglasses, and pretty soon |
| Prescription spectacles continued to be developed | | | | famous film stars and pop stars started wearing |
| over the next few decades, especially regarding the | | | | sunglasses as part of their image. The public began to |
| design of the spectacle frames and how to get them | | | | adopt this new fashion of wearing sunglasses, not just |
| to sit comfortably on the nose. The frames were | | | | to protect their eyes from bright light, but also as a |
| made from leather, bone, ivory, tortoiseshell and metal, | | | | way of looking good. |
| and were simply propped or balanced on the nose. | | | | Today, sunglasses are continuing to be improved with |
| The early arms or sidepieces of the frames first | | | | efficient UV blocking tints, cutting out all the harmful |
| appeared as strips of ribbon that looped around the | | | | ultra-violet light. Various coloured tints are now available |
| backs of the ears. Rather than loops, the Chinese | | | | and, of course, the frame styles are very varied and |
| added ceramic weights to the ends of the ribbons | | | | exciting. Now you can really make a statement with |
| which dangled down behind the tops of the ears. Solid | | | | your fashion sunglasses, transforming your image or |
| sidepieces finally arrived in 1730, invented by Edward | | | | creating a new look. Designer sunglasses have |
| Scarlett. Later on, lens technology made a great leap | | | | certainly come a long way in just a few years, and |
| forward when Benjamin Franklin famously invented the | | | | now not only protect our eyes from the harmful sun's |
| first bifocal lens in 1780, called the "Franklin split" bifocal, | | | | rays, but are also an important fashion accessory - |
| enabling presbyopic patients to read and also see in | | | | and it all started nearly 2,000 years ago with the |
| the distance without the need for separate distance | | | | Roman Emperor Nero! |