Bob Smith (right) developed the first sealed thermal lens and breathable vent foam goggles in 1965, revolutionizing performance eyewear and kicking off more than half a century of innovation at Smith Optics.

Believe it or not, eyewear—namely eyeglasses—have had a long history before Smith set out to develop a new kind of goggle.

THE HISTORY OF EYEGLASSES

Vision aid devices were used as far back as the Ancient Greek era, and there is evidence that Roman emperor Nero used an emerald through which to watch gladiator games. Talk about a spectacle!

In the 10th century some societies used convex lenses to enlarge and magnify images. By the 12th century Europeans had developed “reading stones” to make out tiny script.

The Chinese, meanwhile, developed rudimentary versions of sunglasses using flat planes of smoky quartz to hide the eyes (and expressions) of trial judges.

The first true eyeglasses were made in Northern Italy around 1290. These early glasses consisted of two magnifying glasses riveted together to grip the nose and used to correct farsightedness.

In the 16th century concave lenses where created for nearsighted Pope Leo X.

Benjamin Franklin has famously been credited with inventing bifocals in the mid-18th century to correct for both nearsightedness and age-related farsightedness, though some sources attribute this innovation to English eyeglass makers.

In 1825 a British astronomer designed lenses that corrected for astigmatism’s blurriness.

The modern style of glasses with ear pieces was developed sometime around 1730 by an English optician.

About 20 years later frames were further refined with hinges to enable folding, though styles with handles remained fashionable into the early 19th century.

Eyeglass fashion evolved throughout the 20th century with certain styles becoming popular then losing favor—before trending again decades later.

Recently some tech companies have introduced “smartglasses,” glasses with image capture and Web connectivity. In 2013 Google began selling prototypes of its Google Glass, eyeglass-shaped optical displays that show information received from the Internet. In 2017 Snapchat introduced Spectacles capable of recording short videos automatically uploaded to a user’s online account.

SMITH’s Lowdown Focus Brain Sensing Eyewear (pictured) is the world’s first eyewear capable of providing accurate, real-time feedback on the wearer’s brain activity and helps users learn to control their focus.