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Silver Glasses: liquid-injected lenses for a billion of the world's poor
We revere Santa Claus as our mysterious giver of gifts, but the rest of the world may reserve that spot for Josh Silver. Professor Joshua Silver, to be specific — a retired physics teacher at Oxford University who has developed "Silver Glasses," which are tunable spectacles that need no optometrist to adjust. That's because the glasses have syringes filled with silicone liquid connected to each lens, and the wearer only has to inject or suck out the fluid until the view through the lenses looks right.
Voilà! No optometrist fees, and the glasses are cheap and rugged. It's a bit reminiscent of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program, which brought bare-bones laptops to impoverished nations. 10,000 Silver Glasses have already been delivered to Ghana on a trial basis, and Silver and co. hope to send out one million pairs a year, with the hope of having one billion of the spectacles on heads around the world by 2020.
The Guardian, via (Photo credit: Michael Lewis)
By Travis at 8:26 PM ON 12/24/08
My apologies to Dr. Silver -- from early patents (such as the one linked to below), it appears that his work pre-dated that of Mr. Griffith.
http://www.google.com/patents?id=SJgzAAAAEBAJ&dq=Suspension+system+for+a+flexible+optical+membrane
By dvicerookie at 12:07 PM ON 12/29/08
Haha... You got caught up!! I hate the way that people do that!
By knowledgeablequest at 11:38 AM ON 01/06/09
These glasses seem wonderful: I wish they were for purchase in the USA. Glasses are too expensive. Many people wear the wrong prescription, and or broken glasses, for many years.
By 3vangelica at 3:42 PM ON 01/07/09
It would be great if Dr. Silver could make these glasses available for those in first world counties too. I'm sure many people would buy them and the revenue would surely help fund his aid efforts for the third world countries.
By lamamama at 9:06 AM ON 01/12/09
I help a very worthy organization that could use some of those billion glasses. I am also an optician and am very interested in this concept.
Please contact me so I can discuss the organization that I would like to see get some of these glasses.
Thank you,
lamamama
By chrisg307 at 2:57 PM ON 01/25/09
Great idea! I am near-sighted, and have always noticed if my eyes water I can see better. I missed a great invention opportunity! Please, Dr. Silver, Make them available to us in first world also!
By Janice at 12:06 PM ON 03/11/09
My dad has had a stroke and has some slight vision problems. Would like to purchase a pair. Please contact me.
By benton at 10:30 AM ON 06/29/09
i have macular degeneration,will these glasses help me? if so where can i purchase a pair?
By looker at 8:23 PM ON 07/11/09
I am a member of a small foundation, and am interested in learning more on the non-profit organization - The Centre for Vision in the Developing World. Please send me any info- Thank-you
By tye45 at 12:45 PM ON 07/14/09
Wow, this is great. I thought of this same thing around 2004, I even made a few models out of plastic hoops, epoxyed clear plastic film and syringes. My idea was to make a telescope out of them but the film I used lead to pore resolution so I put the idea down until I found smoother film. Glad someone got it to work. Now I need a pair to experiment with! : )
By Anonymous at 5:56 AM ON 08/23/09
why can I not find how we and other people can help you with money to realize your really great idea to help many people to look !
By Anne at 9:47 AM ON 08/26/09
For those that want to help, I found this link with a bit of searching:
http://www.vdw.ox.ac.uk/index.htm
You can donate online or print forms to mail in your donation offline.
By Rasheda at 11:41 PM ON 09/17/09
Thank you for considering the poor with this invention. Many of the working and homeless can now have the ability to see life as it should be seen.
By sunni at 11:56 AM ON 10/18/09
I WOULD BE HAPPY TO PURCHASE A PAIR FOR ME AND HAVE THE COST FOR ANOTHER PERSON TO HAVE A PAIR INCLUDED IN MY PRICE. I AM SURE MANY PERSONS WOULD IF THEY WERE MARKETED THAT WAY.
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