Four Eyes Good: The History of Glasses | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart. [Music]. Radio hey and welcome to the podcast I'm. Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's here. too and it's just the three of us with. three pairs of. eyes and that's all I got and we all. wear. glasses yeah I guess all three of us do. now huh you didn't for a really long. time you the hold out who kept crashing.

your car yeah yeah I wore and I think. I've told the story but that was sort of. the the typical story of always had. really great vision and then it's been. more longer than you think then sometime. in my uh mid 40s I was like huh this. thing uh I'm reading isn't so clear and. I went to the the doctor and they were. like yeah yeah you're reading vision is. failing so just get some glasses did I. ever tell you the story of um when I I.

found out I needed glasses no how old. were you I was in fourth grade and um we. went in for like a lice check and a like. a eye exam that just a eye test just one. of those things where it's like. obviously the state requires this so it. doesn't actually it's not actually a. thing scoliosis too while they're at it. probably um so I was like totally. flabbergasted when they're like you need. glasses like I was just expecting not. that at all and um sure enough when I.

went in for an eye exam I was like oh I. can actually see things now I hadn't. really noticed and um so yeah since. fourth grade I had to wear glasses or. contact lenses and I'll never forget my. first pair of glasses I think um I was. kind of bummed that I had to wear. glasses at all so my mom made sure that. we went and got like the coolest glasses. we could find that's sweet which were an. Elton John special they were totally. clear with an electric blue wire going. through the whole thing and I would wear.

those today if I could find them they. were pretty awesome yeah uh I mean the. time where we grew up glasses was. definitely like kind of super not cool. MH um but then I Remember by the time we. got to high school it. was I can't believe I'm admitting this. I'm actually one of those people who. bought fake glasses and wore a little. while oh yeah yeah because it was you. know international mail the whole GQ. thing uh I thought I was a preppy kid.

and I thought they make me look uh. cooler and more preppy and uh so I did. that tortoise shells yeah uh for a while. but um yeah glasses and as we'll see in. this uh in this great great article that. Livia put together for us that has long. been a pushpull since kind of the. beginning of glasses was um do they make. it seem like you're deficient as a. person or do they make you look like. smarter yeah yeah no it's it's a tension.

that's as old as glasses basically yeah. and it's sad that it still kind of goes. on but I think that's really kind of. gone the way of the dinosaur thanks to. people like you stepping up and wearing. glasses when you didn't need them thanks. to Huey Lewis stepping up and and. teaching everyone its hip to be square I. really think that was probably the. transition point right there yeah and I. also want to point out I would love to. see pictures of you with those glasses. if you have any because to me there's. nothing cuter than a kid wearing glasses.

well I don't I can if I can put my. finger on any of those and even if I. could I'm pretty sure the glasses were. my best feature back. then so you talked about um you know. this tension from the beginning of. glasses let's talk about the beginning. of glasses because the the concept of. glasses as we understand them today like. these things that you wear that contain. corrective lenses that you can put on. your on your face and they typically. won't fall off that's only a few hundred.

years old but people have needed. corrective lenses for long before that. so there's a really great question that. I've always kind of wondered that I've. never bothered to look up like what what. about people who needed glasses before. glasses were. invented yeah so uh again Livia helped. us with this and I think I'm going to. use her title because it was really. another Livia special I didn't get it. four eyes good you didn't get it no I.

still don't well Four Eyes means you. wear glasses right and so you know four. eyes is. good okay so there like helps you see. better there's no there's no deeper. meaning or pun or or reference to it oh. I I don't think so because I mean why. why didn't she include are like four. eyes are good I just took it I may be. wrong we'll have to ask Olia as just. four eyes good like tuku would say yeah. okay all right maybe so yeah we have to. ask Olivia I may be staring at an. obvious pun though that I'm not.

overlooking so who knows well we're both. overlooking it if we are so don't let me. put on my pun. glasses you need to break those things. all right so uh anyway I agree you know. Olivia kind of points out like as. reading came along people needed glasses. more and more because a lot of like. myself if I never read anything MH um I. would be just fine like I might look at. something close to me and be like well. it might look a little fuzzy but it's. not like reading something something.

that's fuzzy so for before reading. became a big big thing uh not as many. people noticed I think and then I think. people who had which is it nearsighted. or farsighted when you can't see. something far away You're nearsighted. like you're sighted to see things nearby. okay so I think those people were just. kind of so and just was like oh well I. guess this one of the things that. happens to people yes there there is. such a thing as hereditary myopia where. you can be myopic um because you were. born that way but the larger Point here.

is that there were far far fewer people. who were myopic than there are today. because of the Advent of reading and. there's studies that show that the the. more students read the more myopic they. become and it's it's just astounding to. me I didn't ever think of it that way. but it's totally true from reading. glasses came as a necessity yeah and the. people that may have been uh had you.

know not great close Focus back in the. day may have done things like engraving. or these skills where they were doing. something kind of like reading right. right so um and we've had lenses just. not corrective lenses for a very long. time um about almost 5,000 years ago. people were grinding things like quarts. into lenses but they were basically like. little six-year-old kids they would use. them to start fires with that's what. their their purpose was and they were. they were devel.

um independently in different parts of. the world like Assyria and Greece had. them about 5,000 years ago and about. 2,000 years ago uh they developed them. in Peru which is pretty cool too but I. mean a good idea is a good idea and I. think things like that prove that yeah. for sure uh was Archimedes death ray was. that a lens it was a mirror oh right. yeah close I thought of that too uh oh. we did a great podcast on mirrors a long. time ago remember that one that was a. good one my brain is still br broken. from that like it was one of those.

things where I just assumed it would be. pretty easy and it's not at all easy. it's really hard to comprehend mirrors. and how they work yeah totally um all. right so yeah they were polishing lenses. and I think the reading Stone was the. first kind of use of a lens to help you. read something and those were the little. round things that you would sit. literally sit on a book and push along. rather than hold it out like a. magnifying glass uh and there was a lot. of Monk.

uh a lot of monks doing a lot of this. because I think they were doing more. like text work than a lot of most people. back then yeah because you didn't have a. way to copy anything except for by hand. so that was a huge role of monks so yeah. they definitely needed those and then. translating things into other other um. languages there's a really good example. of an important um development in the. field of like glasses or corrective. lenses uh that happened because somebody. translated the WR of an Arab scholar.

named Abu Ali alhassan IB alham who was. born in. 965. CE and uh he actually figured out that. we see because our eyes sense beams of. light and in other parts of the world. like for example Greece um they thought. it was the opposite that we shot laser. beams out of our eyes and I know we've. talked about that before because it's so. Preposterous that I just love it but I. don't remember what episode but but um.

Al alham figured this out but he was. writing in Arabic luckily there was a. monk who was also a physicist a Polish. monk named vido who in the 1200s. translated alham from Arabic to Latin. which gave a chance for another Monk an. English monk named Roger Bacon to read. it in Latin and then build on alam's. findings about vision and optic.

is it weird to me that I thought a monk. being named Roger Bacon was funny. sounding no it is it's really funny oh. okay yeah no it's I mean it's just such. a modern name but also a silly modern. name yeah yeah okay good I'm with you no. offense to Kevin no no he he knows yeah. uh if we're talking about glasses like. you know the glasses that we think of. today still not uh you know you'll note. there's some key things missing here. still uh but if we're talking about a.

convex lens to help someone who is. farsighted read text or a book you got. to go to Italy uh in the late 13th. century Italy uh with a little bit of. Germany mixed in here and there but it. seems like Italy really drove the. glasses industry uh forward yeah um. using crown glass at the time uh like. you know real glass for their lenses and. we'll get to that switch later on too um. but they speculate that you know they. were GR gring and you know they were.

making mirrors and polishing stones and. stuff so they probably it probably. wasn't a big leap to start doing the. same kind of things with the same kind. of tools to make glass lenses yeah and. so like you said they were convex lenses. to help magnify things for people who. are farsighted and that is far far. easier to make than the concave lens as. we'll see so those convex lenses were. around for centuries before corrective. lenses for people with myopia came. along yeah uh another thing you're going.

to want to do maybe is uh if you're in a. place to look things up for image. searches uh these are all fun to look at. these antique glasses uh if you look up. rivet spectacles r i v these were sort. of the first glasses uh that were held. together by a little you know rivet it. looks like a hinge I couldn't tell it it. looks like they might move and like fold. upon each other is that true I don't. know but it looked like that to me too I. would guess so they're kind of cool. looking but one thing you notice is that.

even with the rivet spectacles they're. not um you don't hang that rivet on your. nose it's still just a hinge to hold. them together yeah you had to hold. classes or spectacles with your hand for. centuries after they were invented. basically yeah and like we said um with. the Advent of reading thanks to things. like the Gutenberg printing press in the. 1400s or later in the 1600s when Europe. started to publish newspapers all over. the place reading became much more. widespread and so the need for glasses.

became much more widespread thanks to. the development of myopia from reading. and especially reading by. candlelight uh yeah I guess that would. really put a strain on your eyes right. totally for sure and so um this is also. about the time. in uh. medieval I think Medieval. Europe um where the whole thing kind of. became like all right is this a fashion. statement are you everybody that you're.

correcting a disability what's the deal. here with classes this is around the. time where it really kind of started to. take hold um and in fact Olivia turned. up something I thought was pretty. interesting depending on the painter and. depending on how you wanted to um depict. the person especially uh during um the. Renaissance you might show somebody who. was born before glasses were invented. wearing glasses to get across how. studious and scholarly they were or if.

you wanted to show how cool somebody was. if they were known to wear glasses you. might have you might leave the glasses. out all together yeah yeah it's that. that weird push bull that we were. talking about uh and I guess it just. depended on maybe just the time and. place and what the culture was like in. that particular time and place right. right they were also a way to depict uh. wealth remember it had a p a painting. called the parable of the rich fool. which is a Bible story so of course this. took place long before there was such a.

thing as glasses but he included glasses. on the rich fool to show how rich he was. yeah and in China uh because these. spread via the Silk Road to asah uh some. of their Judiciary committees they were. like here's your uniform and part of it. was glasses whether you needed them or. not yeah like you like. me nice work you want to take a break. yeah I mean since we literally just. jinxed each other I think we should take.

a break that's right you owe me a coke. all right be right. [Music]. [Applause]. [Music]. [Applause]. back stuff you. should so Chuck before we get started. again I I want to say something every. every time I say glasses or hear glasses.

or even read glasses in my head Velma. goes my. glasses it's been happening constantly. and I think what's most significant. about it is it hasn't gotten old yet so. Velma from Scooby-Doo would she lose her. glasses MH yeah she invariably said my. glasses MH and I I just got it in my. head and you've been doing that like for. two days uh yeah over and over and over. and over it's going on right now is we. speak as a matter of fact and by the.

sounds of it you were also practicing. that Arabic name I actually did not out. loud yeah you busted that thing out man. I just have a silver tongue for Arabic. apparently that was really good thanks. okay so let's get started um we talked. about how the lenses for um. farsightedness were around for centuries. before. nearsightedness uh but we eventually got. to those uh I guess in like the 15th. century the 1400s. again not coincidentally with the spread.

of reading we finally figured out how to. make lenses that are concave that. correct vision for people who can see. things nearby but not far away that's. right and uh the other way around like. you mentioned in act one a lot harder to. do uh there was a cardinal named. Nicholas of Kusa uh and this is where. the Germany part comes in because that's. where Germany is now um he's given a lot. of credit to developing the convex lens. but once again uh it was really Italy.

where a lot of this was taking place uh. specifically Florence uh where they were. really crafting excellent lenses for the. time and I think they were pretty pretty. darn good at it even like compared to. today um I've read that it's like kind. of remarkable how good they were at this. yeah um yeah for sure I mean I I I. always equate Venice with glass because. of Venetian glass but sure why not. Florence too yeah. so um there are a couple of innovations.

that came along uh in the 17th century. to the. 1600s that really kind of uh help push. things forward so we're we've been. making glass for Centuries by then but. as they were trying to figure out how to. make these things refract light that's. how lens is correct they refract light. at different angles depending on what. you need to see uh in Focus um they. figured out that not only you know could. you use traditional glass and then shape.

it in certain ways you could add certain. things to Glass that would help with. their. [Music]. refractivity index but you need less. glass to do that so all of a sudden. glasses became uh immediately less. clunky and a little more comfortable. yeah for sure uh and you know you. mentioned paintings in that in uh the. first part but uh I thought the. Encyclopedia brownness of this next bit.

was really pretty great uh because there. is actual evidence of concave lens uh. use in Raphael's painting portrait of. Pope Leo 10 and two. cardinals you say 10 huh what do you say. x yeah I know it's 10 but it just sounds. cooler as po X okay uh so uh poo was. part of the medich family which had um. genetic myopia uh as was well known back.

then and you can see and this is where. it gets Encyclopedia Brown uh you can. see in the painting uh behind the lens. his thumb is smaller uh showing that. it's a distance lens and that is just. that little detail for someone to paint. that and then other people to notice is. pretty great I mean that's so Rafael you. know yeah and then there were some other. advances too that weren't exactly. corrective lenses but people figured out. especially the Dutch were super into. this that if you took corre corrective.

lenses that could bend light in. different ways you could see things that. were really small or you could see. things that were really far away and so. they were really helpful in developing. the microscope and the telescope too. that's right but I know everyone's. chomping at the bit MH and saying these. glasses that you can hold up to your. face are fine MH but guys when did. people start wearing glasses we can go. to the 17th century finally mhm when we. got the the bow spectacle or is it bow I.

wonder that myself I think bow like a. bow and arrow bow it's like the shape of. a bow without the string I think that's. what it is okay that's what I think it. is too but those are the glasses that uh. still didn't have um what do you call. the things on the sides the temples or. the arms now arms yeah no arms yet but. they had a little a little thing where. you could slip it over your nose and it. would you know if you had a good fit it. would sit there otherwise you probably.

still needed to assist it with your fies. yeah exactly the same thing that's still. around now it sits on the bridge of your. nose and rests and helps you know hold. your glasses up right yeah so that was a. huge Advance it's funny when you look. back at this stuff um you're just like. this is all just such lwh hanging fruit. glasses guys why didn't you just put. them together immediately yeah and. that's just not how it went I mean this. person contributed this this person. contributed that and they took Millennia.

to develop which I just find astounding. um it's it's like a a miracle that we. have glasses today based on how long and. plotting their development was well yeah. and what's the funniest thing to me. about all of this is I was reading each. little development was the whole time. the ears are sitting there on the side. of your head just like hey guys we have. two literal anchor points sticking out. of the side of everybody's head M and. still no one I think in Spain Livia. found that some people would tie a. string MH and then tie it around their.

ear like if they were playing you know. soccer or something I guess but no one. still was like hey maybe we should make. something to sit on those ears so to be. fair there was a guy named Edward. Scarlet who was an optician in London in. the 1720s and he saw what you're talking. about but at the time so he invented. temples those those sides those arms but. they didn't curve downward to take. advantage of those natural anchor points.

the backs of the ears like we use today. but there was a good reason why and that. was at the time anyone who is wealthy. enough to afford glasses also wore. powdered wigs and those things were. Giant and covered the ears so you. couldn't use the back of the ears like. that because they were covered up but. you could use the temples as pressure. points for those those arms that they he. came up with so those were just like. little. squeezies essentially yeah they would. give you a migraine in like 3 minutes. I'm guessing uh because I did also see.

that um or Olivia found rather that they. uh some people would would attach a. ribbon uh but they still wouldn't time. around the ear they would just tie it. around the back of their head attach. harle Quin mask yeah yeah to those. squeezy temples mhm uh finally we get a. guy that gets closer uh in 752 an. English optician named James uh ice. cough I guess um had a double hinge. side uh and. well actually I don't think he invented.

the the turn pin template that was about. 25 years after that cuz the turnpin. template from or Temple from what I can. tell it goes straight back and then has. a hinge and then goes straight down. behind the ear mhm 90° but it doesn't. like curve around the ear it was just a. big 90° drop that sat down a couple of. inches even below the ear right but it. finally started to take advantage of the. back of the ear right yeah in a clunky. way but at the same time with these guys.

putting hinges in there now you have. these arms that can number one fold away. for convenience but also number two if. they're double spring they can also Bend. kind of outwards so now you could just. put glasses on and they would fit to. your giant head or your tiny head. depending on the size immediately thanks. to the spring in those um those hinges. yeah I remember seeing those for the. first time and that seemed like a very. modern invention in like the ' 80s but. that's not true at all. no and I don't I I think it took a.

little while for it to become ubiquitous. but it was older than that for sure yeah. well I only use you know I found a. number of years ago that the the Rayband. Wayfair is kind of the only sunglass. that I look okay in okay so I've only. worn those and then I just buy those. frames to get my readers made mhm uh. because it's the only only shape that. I've ever found works for my face and so. I'm a a Wayfair purist I guess I can do.

wayf fars and I can do aviators too I. can't pull those off the ones that I. can't pull off that I really wish I. could are the um I want to say Carreras. but they're not you know what I'm. talking about those Italian ones that. are super Sleek looking that you. basically have to wear a Speedo. with I think I know exactly what you're. talking about yeah those I wish I could. rock those and they just do not look. right on me and I think we should. include a little PSA here um for. everybody that wears those giant.

multicolored reflective visor sunglasses. now nobody looks good in those which. ones the giant visor sunglasses that are. super in right. now what is visor what you mean like a a. hat visor no um like a like ski goggles. but without the goggle part they're just. sunglasses but they're that massive and. and colorfully reflective how have you. not seen these I don't know like Oakleys. kind of yeah I'm sure he please make.

some yes bigger just imagine bigger I'm. gonna have to look up a picture of these. because I I have not not also I don't. you know get around in the world too. much. so I mean I'm surprised you at least. haven't seen like a a delivery person. wearing them oh well you know what's. funny I just did a rare intro lookup and. I see exactly what you're talking about. mhm I do not like those I did not know. people were wearing those a lot oh yeah. they're huge now but they also when you. type in visor sunglasses they make.

sunglasses with a little visor over them. oh that's neat like the Dwayne Wayne. little flip up sunglasses kind well it's. those are individual for each side this. is I'm sending you a picture of this. dude right now because he's rocking it. pretty hard nice uh anyway where I. started with the whole Rayband thing is. though they don't make the the spring. ones where they you know CU I have a. pretty fat head then luckily they fit my. face but they don't you know Bend. outward Flex outward they have what you. called barrel hinges in there no they. don't they stop at like I guess 90° to.

the frame but you can go in and get. those little um parts of the barrel. hinges adjusted to fit your head if if. they don't automatically fit your head. man you know a lot about this stuff well. you know I've been wearing them since. fourth grade and you just pick up facts. here or. there uh all right just to cite a. further example of the push and pull of. cool versus not cool uh Napoleon needed. glasses uh thought they make him look. squeak so did not wear them and as a.

result um I think like tripped over. stuff and people thought he was clumsy I. mean he rode a horse and he couldn't see. that's kind of dangerous totally there. was another kind of Big Splash that. happened with classes that uh made him. fashionable but it was one of those. things where something that's ugly and. utilitarian becomes fashionable and it. was a type of glasses invented by. Benjamin Martin they ended up being. called Martin's Mar cuz they're hugely. thick frames and the reason that Martin.

invented them like that is because they. block light coming in from different. directions rather than looking forward. and that can obscure your vision a. little bit and he's absolutely right. that that totally is true um if you're. just outside looking wearing say. contacts MH and um you put on glasses. there's a huge difference between the. two because the frames block some of the. light coming downward into your eyes um. and everybody made fun of these because. they were just so ugly but people.

started wearing them and so everybody. who were making fun of them started. making and selling them too yeah and. they're kind of crazy looking when you. look at them now uh I have seen some. that people have kind of emulated this. style but it was it was noteworthy too. cuz it was one of the first ones that um. had any kind of noticeable Rim usually. it was just the lens and kind of the. smallest piece of whalebone or wire or. something that could host that lens. right for sure yeah so U the 1600s I.

think saw some technical advances but. the 19th century was just a boom Century. for um especially using corrective. lenses right not just fashion or the way. that they were made or getting around to. putting arms that reach behind the back. of the ear but like the actual function. of glasses became exponentially better. in the 19th century yeah because you. know previous to this uh the way you got. glasses was the glasses manufacturer.

would make a bunch of them and then they. would send a salesperson around and a. wagon or I guess eventually a car and. they would travel around and kind of do. like the over-the-counter readers that. what was it like 34% of Americans. actually use those these days or 34. million I think it's a lot yeah 34. million um but it was on the you know on. the road basically you just didn't have. um a prescription um specific to your. eye someone just came around you were.

like well these will do I guess but now. all of a sudden you got uh a real you. know uh vision test so they could dial. in a prescription for you for the first. time yeah and that was thanks to people. who started inventing um tools that are. still kind of in use today evolved. versions uh in particular was a guy. named Herman Von helmholtz who goes. without saying was German he invented. the opthalmoscope and the opthal opthal.

meter opthal meter sorry um and the. opthalmoscope lets you see the back of a. patient's eyeball so when they look at. your eye and they're shining a light and. they're like don't look into the light. look at my ear or something like that. that's essentially an opthalmoscope that. Herman Von helmholtz invented in the. 1850s and then the opthal meter you can. assess the um essentially the curvature. of the back of the retina while you're. looking at uh at the retina through an.

opthalmoscope and what you have now is. basically the the the invention of the. ability to figure out what kind of. corrective lenses you needed. Opthalmology it was born at this time. and so now they could really take exact. measurements and then create the glasses. for you specifically and they just. worked so much better yeah and I'm glad. you took all those words. those are hard should we mention that we.

had to edit out at least one attempt of. Opthalmology yeah I mean that was the. easiest one I think because that's a. word people commonly say but for there's. something about the opthal being at the. beginning that just makes it a little. brain breaking so it's horrendous opol. op op what did you say for the second. machine op op. thomer I tried to add an extra syllable. as per my usual opth themometer yeah. yeah sure yeah that's way better.

meter up Thom. meter oh boy uh are we gonna talk about. the diopter I think it it we should just. mention it because it was a huge. breakthrough we don't have to go into. the formula but there were a pair of. French. opthalmologists who in the 1870s figured. out that you could um quantify just how. much vision correction you needed and. it's mindbending that it's called the. diopter and it's a really simple formula.

but it's really hard to understand but. just take for granted that. opthamologists understand how to use. that and so if you look at your. prescription whether for glasses or for. context the thing that's labeled power. that number is in um diopters and that. just means how much of a refraction uh. um correction you need to focus stuff. far away or nearby at your retina rather. than in front of you or behind you as. you naturally would be with your. nearsightedness or.

farsightedness yeah is is the key to all. this that machine that you look through. with the lenses that they flip. down during the eye test I think that's. almost like a like they're zeroing in on. their um observations of what your eye. looks like and now they're they've got. it narrowed down to like a couple of. different diopter okay and it's almost. to me like that those traveling salesmen. who'd be like try this pair on try this. hair on but they're doing it with a cool. machine that has slides instead.

right that's my take I could be wrong I. probably am wrong well I'd like to hear. from opthalmologists because I know I. know there's a lot more to it than uh. like just sit down in front of this. machine and we'll punch the numbers into. the whatever and it'll spit out your. prescription like there there is actual. expertise involved yeah for sure yeah. they have to like observe and and um. make guesses based on their observation. from what I can understand. how about that little eye puff the. little air puff you get I I I take some.

time to get used to you like that no I. don't like it but it's definitely I mean. all this was brand new to me a decade. ago is so like you said you've been. doing it since you were what like 12 11. how yeah however old you are in fourth. grade 10 I don't know but yes around. that that time to me those things are. like the same experience of pulling a. nose hair out you know like you just. yeah it's in some weird um masochistic.

way like enjoyable but it's not really. yeah all right so uh we're having too. much fun here let's take a break and get. serious and we'll talk a little bit more. about Plastics and bifocals and monal. and sunglasses and everything else right. after this. [Music]. [Applause]. [Music].

[Applause]. [Music]. all right so we promised talks of. plastic uh after World War I Plastics. became a big thing and uh resin um. specifically. cr39 uh became the first big kind of. popular plastic used for lenses uh which. is still a pretty popular choice today. mhm yeah so that was a huge advancement. in lenses uh but people were still.

making glass lenses for a long time uh. until 1972 in the United States the FDA. said hey walking around with two glass. lenses on your eyes like so close to. your eyes is probably kind of scary so. now all lenses need to be shatterproof. so a lot of glasses makers just turned. to Plastics at that point yeah and. plastic worked you know it was it was. much better in a lot of ways because uh. they were you know turned out to be more. durable uh once they figured out the.

scratch resistance um they wouldn't. shatter you know near your eye obviously. uh you could have a lot more kinds of. styles you could have rimless glasses. yeah um obviously Plastics in the frames. created a boom in um fashion eyewear. like in the ' 50s with cat eye glasses. and uh horned horn Rim glasses and toris. shell and uh like the the glasses you. talked about in the 70s and 80s the big. giant or I don't know if you mentioned. them the big giant uh like uh dairo War.

at the end of Casino yeah I love those. man je Jesse Thorne has some of those. I'm so jealous whenever I see those. those seem to be based on a military. issue um type of glasses which we didn't. say the two World Wars helped make. glasses normal in the United States. because so many soldiers needed them. that that the government started issuing. them like two two million plus pairs but. the standard issue military glasses were. called were so ugly they were called. informally of course birth control.

glasses or bcgs and if you look them up. they are that ugly they're terrible did. they look like the dairo ones are they. just giant they weren't nearly as cool. as the dairo ones they were uglier. version of the dairo ones got it I'm. going to look those up too yeah they're. they're they're tough to look at yeah GI. glasses they're sometimes called as well. mhm it's like thanks a lot Army exactly. so that was a huge advance but just kind. of dialing it back a little bit TimeWise.

um there's like a old story that Ben. Franklin invented the bifocals and that. seems to actually be correct based on a. letter that he wrote to one of his. friends in the the late. 1700s where he basically described. creating bifocals but by having a glass. maker cut his two different sets of. glasses in half right did the letter say. for instance I'm reading what I'm. writing and now I'm looking across the. room and I'm reading what I'm writing. and now I'm looking across the room.

right yeah it had a lot of that couple. paragraphs uh yeah but you know seems. like he did uh he said that he could you. know see his food and look at people at. the dinner party at the same time mhm um. progressive lenses came along this is. sort of shocks me I thought they were. newer too but they came along in. 1959 uh and isn't the idea there that. it's sort of like a bifocal that's just. sort of Blended in and less harsh it's. actually a trifocal there's um distant. mid and near all mixed together and it.

just depends I guess on where your eye. focuses I I think it's magic basically. they're also called multifocal lenses. yeah I think they offered me those just. so I could wear glasses all the time. yeah and I was like I don't want to wear. glasses all the time if I don't have to. I don't mind put putting them on read. there's a theory that um you should use. glasses as little as possible and use. the lowest power say cont as possible. because your eyes can get dependent on.

the stronger prescription or wearing. them all the time I don't know if that's. a a folk tale or something but it. definitely intuitively makes sense yeah. I think it totally makes sense okay well. then you made the right choice Chuck can. we talk about monocles yes let's please. I think this is the high point of this. episode yeah monal are kind of fun uh if. you don't know what a monocle is I guess. I'm assuming is the the single round. lens that would you would just of you. know made to fit your eye because you.

were wealthy if you had one and you. would just sort of stick it in there and. and sort of squint around it a bit to. hold it in but uh from the very. beginning it seems like the monacle was. it kind of just said one thing which is. look at me I'm A A pompous rich person. who wants you to know that I'm pompous. and Rich yeah which is that's the reason. why Eustace Tilly the mascot for the New. Yorker has a monocle yeah um or the. Monopoly man has a mon um it can also be.

exotic like The Count from Sesame. Streets a mon yeah I looked this up by. the way this isn't off the top of my. head the penguin the Burgess Meredith. Penguin from the Cy 60s Batman monacle. Colonel clink yeah I'm not sure what the. point was of his. monacle oh maybe sort of evil villain. yeah it made him e more evil didn't it I. think so but I'm not quite sure how but. there's a long history of of people. wearing monal but one thing that I had.

noticed before that I never really kind. of sat down and put together is that. they were also used in the early 20th. century by women who were uing. traditional gender roles I I didn't know. that yeah think of so you have you ever. seen Madonna wearing like a a tuxedo and. a monacle she's basically making a nod. to like Yar Republic German women. probably lesbians of the era who were. basically dressing like men and one of. the the big fashion accessories for that.

was the monacle oh okay that makes sense. yeah I think it's pretty cool Dietrich. and dagio. exactly what a great song Oh God so good. um all right should we talk a little bit. about sunglasses yes take it away yeah. this is uh I mean sunglasses have been. around a long time as far as something. to wear on your face to Shield your eyes. from the Sun um not necessarily like. darker lenses but uh or dark lenses but. uh Inuit people you know a couple of.

thousand years ago were wearing sun. goggles uh which essentially you know. it's because of the bright Sun and the. snow was either like wood or Ivory or. something um that fit around your eyes. and had a little little slits cut uh. almost almost like sort of the old um. tanning bed goggles that you would wear. exactly if you were into that in the 80s. and again like those big um frames that. kind of block some light they did that. but the slits also narrowed your vision. too so it actually focused further away.

too it's pretty neat but what about. lindes they they started darkening those. a while ago too didn't they yeah I think. um as far back as Samuel peeps uh in the. 17th century the famous diarist whose. name I finally pronounced correctly um. he tended I think his glass is green to. to protect his eyes from Candlelight. when he was riding late at night so. they've been around a really long time. and even be before that I think there's. a legend that emperor Nero used um.

ground emeralds to as basically. sunglasses when he hung out at the. Coliseum you know I'm this is not a look. that looks good on me at all but um when. I was just in. La uh I went to dinner with Friends of. the show David Reese by the way cool and. Paula Tomkins and his great wife Janie. they all say Hello by the way nice hello. uh Paul you know Mr uh fashion mhm wore. vision glasses that were tinted blue and.

they looked really really sharp on him I. could never pull off but they looked. really good paf Tomkins can pull off. basically anything he knows exactly what. he can wear and there's a wide range and. he does it really well guess what color. his shirt. was uh I'm gonna guess a different shade. of blue yeah it went perfectly did he. wear a thick plaid like not not the coat. was thick but the Plaid was thick the p. pattern of the Plaid was a very thick. prominent plaid blue jacket it was.

actually a a white suit with white Chuck. boots and a solid blue shirt with the. blue glasses very very sharp I very. rarely say the word wow but that one was. well earned but you found uh I I think. his were just blue blue but you found. some good information on the the to me. magic that happens when you inside with. clear glasses and you walk outside and. they turn into sungl glasses yeah. transition lenses which it turns out.

transitions is a proprietary eponym. basically like Kleenex because it's so. successful everybody calls any what are. called photochromic lenses transition. lenses so transition lenses are. photochromic but not all photochromic. lenses are transition essentially is. what I'm saying yeah the thing that. strikes me Chuck is like they've been. around since the 196s cuz I definitely. identify them with late 80s early 90s. yeah but I mean you you found the stuff. on how it works and I still don't.

understand how that's not just black. magic well there's basically there's. certain kinds of dyes called. photochromic dyes and the more they're. exposed to UV light the darker they get. because the more light they absorb and. so they've actually figured out how to. include these in the lenses wow so when. there's not UV light say you're inside. they're the GL the photochromic dyes are. arranged as certain kinds of molecules. and that's they're transparent but when. they're exposed to UV they break apart.

and form different molecules which. absorb light much more which darkens. them and since there's a bunch of them. in the lenses the lenses turn dark and. you effectively have sunglasses and then. when you go back out of the UV light. exposure they go back to their normal. molecular. configuration just incredible I thought. so too hats off to Warby Parker by the. way for explaining that understandably I. think thank you Mr War. what about scratch resistant lenses cuz.

these to me are this is the the story of. the show yeah I mean there's a lot of. great facts of the show in here uh the. proprietary epidem of progressive. certainly one of them MH uh but uh you. know ground lens you said you know in. 1972 this one the FDA said you can't. have U glass breaking right in front of. your eyeball mhm uh so the Plastics came. around and uh they were great for not. shattering but they were very scratchy. or rable I guess and uh NASA actually.

developed uh technology to try and make. um you know astronaut helmet uh face. visors not scratchy and so this is one. of those NASA inventions that made it to. the regular world when Foster Grant in. 1983 who I don't think we mentioned uh. they were sort of the first big. sunglasses company they they weren't the. biggest in the'80s just because they had. you know the coolest commercials they. had been around since the 1920s mhm. selling sunglasses so they said hey NASA.

we want to license that technology to. make our lenses scratch resistant and. you know all of a sudden that's just. sort of the uh I mean I think you you. can't even get them that aren't scratch. resistant these days right no there's no. point you would go through glasses every. couple months basically why would you do. that save a couple of bucks yeah Bas. basically yeah and you you end up buying. way more glasses and spending way more. money probably but those scratch. resistant lenses just out of the gate. they made glasses last 10 times longer. that which even went beyond glass like.

how good glass uh lenses could last too. so there was a huge advancement as well. uh all right well if you want to look at. today I mean we're not going to talk. about context too much that may be its. own episode at some point oh yeah um but. they did debut in 1887 which to me is. a a startling thing that people were. inserting a Glass Lens from 1887 onto. their ball cuz that's what it had to be. even in 1961 when they were like the.

soft contacts were invented uhhuh um. they were still pretty hard and you. would not want to have worn them do you. do the disposable ones yeah. multifocal so what does that mean it. means that I can see far away in the. middle ground and nearby basically how B. based on how my Iris focuses and then. you use those for a day and then they go. away and then you use another yeah. you're supposed to use them for a day.

but I use them for 3 to 5 days until. they get uncomfortable just seem like a. waste you know and can you can you sleep. in those no you're not supposed to I. used to all the time because I hated. taking them out and putting them in and. uh then I grew up and I'm like yeah I. should not do that cuz it's really bad. for your eyes yeah it just seems like a. a lost sort of time when hey don't. anyone move I'd lost a contact right or. the little the little cases and washing. them out every night that kind of thing.

yeah yeah because they weren't. disposables it was you bought those. contacts it was basically like your. retainer you do not lose your retainer. right you know same thing with your. contacts oh goodness we live through a. Great era I. think uh all right so today if you look. at some stats uh the 166 us adults wear. prescription eyeglasses that's about 64%. of people like you mentioned earlier 34. and a half million people wear the.

over-the-counter readers about 45. million wear. contacts and that is that's a lot of. people with that feels like most adults. have some sort of eye correction going. on because all of us went through school. and had to read books all the time I. guess so it's not many people that are. in their 50s and up that don't need any. sort of glasses or lenses at all right. you can thank your public school for. that I guess so. uh you got anything else about. glasses uh no that was a fun one I like.

these histories like the Dentistry one. these are these are fun for me yeah I. thought of the Dentistry one when I was. researching this too well thanks again. to Olivia for helping us with this one. and thank you for listening and since. Chuck said he doesn't have anything else. right now it's time for listener. mail uh I'm going to call this just a. little shout out uh you know when it. comes to talking about stuff on the show. like any sort of you know the the latest. um words that people should use in terms.

of like uh gender and things like that. like we always try and stay on top of. things uh while we always also try and. speak to like a wide audience and make. sure things are super clear to everybody. and it's a delicate balance for us so we. try and this was just a letter of thanks. from someone uh from Canada uh hey guys. just listening to the share episode and. I wanted to stop and and say thank you. the way you talked about her son Chaz. who his transgender was perfect uh you. gendered him correctly even in referring. to him pre uh transition when you.

mentioned when he was born I know it. might sound silly but it made me glassy. eyed to hear as a trans person it was so. hard to be in a world that seems. determined to hate us or make it harder. for us to exist as the normal humans. that we are so hearing you talk about. Chaz and not make his transness a bigger. deal than it needed to be and he you. talk about him in a way we trans people. Advocate that we should be talked about. really move me uh thank you for working. so hard to get it right I know it has an. always gone perfectly but I know you. care a lot and want to get it right.

every time this is part of why after 15. years I've been listening every week. thanks for all you do and for uh keeping. me learning new things making me laugh. while I do uh hope you have an amazing. weekend friends and that is Lucy from. Canada awesome thanks Lucy we appreciate. that big time that was a good one Chuck. thanks for picking that yeah we we do. our best folks uh if you want to do a. hat tip to us like Lucy did we'd love. those we'll take those any day of the. week and you can send them to us via.

email at stuff podcast iheartradio.com. [Music]. stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart radio for more podcasts ihart. radio visit the iHeart Radio app Apple. podcasts or wherever you listen to your. favorite shows. [Music].