The function and fashion of eyeglasses | Small Thing Big Idea, a TED series

Transcriber: TED Translators admin Reviewer: Joanna Pietrulewicz

I think that at the time,

Catwoman had a really cool pair of glasses

in the Batman series that was on television.

And I wanted to be cool like her.

It didn't occur to me

that glasses were really a medical device.

(Small Thing.)

(Big Idea.)

When light rays reflect off an object

and enter the eye through the cornea,

your retina converts this light into electrical impulses

that are sent to the brain,

which interprets the impulses

and allows you to understand what you're seeing.

Eyeglasses help you see.

The earliest forms of eye gear

can be traced back 4,000 years.

Cultures that needed to adapt to climates that were snowy

created eye shields,

and they were made of bone and animal hides.

They had small slits for people to see through,

but no lenses.

The first vision aid was called a reading stone

and was invented over 1,000 years ago.

It's not exactly clear who invented the first eyeglasses,

but many people attribute it to the Italians.

Early versions of eyeglasses were called rivet spectacles.

They were two magnifying glasses that were hinged together

at the bridge of the nose.

It took some time for eyeglasses to land

on the perfect design.

They didn't really have sides,

which are also called temples, or arms,

until about the 17th century.

Modern-day eyeglasses feature a pair of rims

that hold corrective lenses,

a bridge that connects the rims,

sides that slide behind the ears,

hinges that connect the sides to the frames,

and on some glasses, a pair of temple tips

for behind the ear comfort.

In American culture,

20th century cinema helped popularize eyeglasses.

Audiences would see glamorous actresses and actors

donning glasses to take on a different persona.

Sometimes a pair of glasses became popularized

by the actual person that was wearing them,

and then that personality trait

was projected into the actual device.

You had the aviator glasses,

which showed a forward-thinking,

adventurous type of person.

Glasses with heavy frames signified intelligence

or nerdiness.

Wayfarers signified this kind of nerdy punk,

the outlaw, the misfit.

Glasses have become so popular as a fashion device

that some people actually don glasses

without a prescription lens at all,

because they want to portray a certain attribute about themselves.

Glasses are a lifeline to people.

People that can't see well enough to drive,

well enough to cook, well enough to read

rely on glasses for maintaining their lives.

And there's lots of other objects in our society

that have been created

to help overcome various physical obstacles.

And it's only the eyeglasses

that have catapulted to that fashion statement.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if anything that we use,

any device that we've invented to help our humanity

could also be elevated in the same way?

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