Lecture 1: Background and History

of or pertaining to the eye.

Ophthalmic

Includes any optics that pertain to the eye. I.e. Spectacles, Contact Lens, Intraocular Lens, Optics of eye, even Refractive Surgery and Optical Instruments used to examine the eye.

Ophthalmics Optics

The earliest discovered lens came from

Ancient Egypt & Mesopotamia

In 700 BC, it is used to emulate the optical properties observed from water.

Polished crystals

Father of Optical Theory. He is the first to suggest that smoothed glass might assist someone suffering from a visual impairment state in his Book of Optics.

Alhazen

In 13th century, Italian monks developed a semi-spherical lens made of rock crystal & quartz that when placed on a piece of writing, it magnified the letters.

Reading Stone

Evidence that early eyeglass production, a renowned center of glass-making at the time.

1300 Venice, Italy

Invention of printing press fueled demand for eyeglasses; mass production methods to produce inexpensive eyeglasses for the new reading public.

15th Century

Early visual aids usually slid down the wearer’s nose.

Before 18th Century

People already have the concept of convex (presbyopia, [+] hyperopia), & concave ([-] myopia) lenses

17th Century

In 1728, he designed rigid temples that rest atop the wearer’s ears.

Edward Scarlett

In 1784, he is credited with creating bifocal lenses, the 1st instance of distance & near correction in the same pair of glasses.

Benjamin Franklin

1st eye exams for glasses used a “trier” tool with lenses of different focal lengths placed in front of a person’s eyes.

1800

In 1825, he invented cylindrical lenses used to correct astigmatism

George Airy

In 1862, he invented the standardized eye chart that is still in use today.

Herman Snellen

Trial lenses became standardized when the diopter was adopted as a unit of measurement.

1875

In 1912, he calculated point focal imaging eyeglasses lenses, which were marketed under the name Punktal

Moritz von Rohr

1st axially-symmetric eyeglass lenses to minimize the blurring that occurs when looking through the edge areas of a lens. World’s 1st frames fitted to accommodate the wearer without sliding down. Creation of this lead to the creation of an independent eyeglass division within the larger Carl Zeiss enterprise.

Punktal

In 1932, Zeiss created the 1st modern pair of eyeglass framed names _____

Perivist

In 1907, he patented a progressive lens design.

Owen Aves

His patented, improved progressive lens designs in 1909 & 1914, which utilized a conicoidal back surface to produce the additional power.

Henry Goulland

In 1959, It was introduced and the 1st commercially successful progressive lens in Europe,

Essel’s Varilux Lens

In 1965, it was introduced which became the 1st commercially successful lens in the United States.

Univis Omnifocal