The earliest spectacle, a pair of convex glass discs was produced by an Italian glazier. These eye-glasses actually looked like two small magnifying glasses riveted together at the top of their handles. These eyeglasses were revolutionary.
Initially, chords and chains around the head, or behind the ears, were used to hold spectacles in place.
In about 1500, the first eyeglasses with pads to secure the frames were made in Britain. It was the British optician Edward Scarlett who first made rigid arms, or side pieces, for spectacles in 1727.
The American statesman Benjamin Franklin has long been credited with the invention of bifocals. John Herschel, in 1827, proposed the idea for contact lenses, but they did not become a reality until 1887. It was not until 1933 that a practical version was introduced, by the German ophthalmologist Josef Dallos.
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